Oppression, liberation, irony: “You Can Run” fills 337 Project Space this November
The colors red and blue, and the motif of a gavel/mallet, are repeated throughout the collection of props in Amelia Stanley’s installation “You Can Run.” Filling Tom Duimstra’s gallery 337 Project Space on the Avenue for the Arts for November, her installation—at least for the night of First Fridays—is joined by a crowd. The festive tone of the exhibition does not reflect the weight of the proposed topics, let alone their collective importance. Admittedly, it would be a lot of gravitas to chew in one show.
With the exception of two banners and two series of monoprints on vellum, most pieces included in “You Can Run” are modified garments and aluminum forms. The centerpiece is a satin shirt tethered with bungee cords and weighted with cast aluminum padded hangers. There’s also a cape, jumpsuit, a sports bra and boy short set, running cleats, and a track uniform stuffed with dried flowers.
Originally from Grand Rapids, Stanley is currently an MFA Candidate, at Indiana University. She collaborated on “Inside Outside” with several students from the sculpture department for SiTE:LAB’s ArtPrize exhibition, “Everything is Transformed”, at Rumsey Street Project.
Stanley’s statement defines the meaning of the gavel as a symbol of justice. In its doubled configuration formally resembles a dumbbell, and vaguely suggests ovaries. The latter is more clearly implied by the silhouette of a scale that looks like the female reproductive system.
Themes of oppression, motivation, and liberation are threaded together, albeit rather tenuously, in her artist’s statement:
“….The double-headed gavel is a heavy dumbbell. It’s an auction hammer — the prize is freedom, the loss is confinement. It’s a sledge that takes down concrete barriers, exposing the silent herstories (histories) and the neglected truths underneath. It’s a weapon swung at the tight and empty hand. It’s rusting iron. It’s also delicate paper on the floor that sticks to your shoes. The double-headed gavel is a symbol of feminine justice; it’s the enemy of the elusive wrong-doer, “the man behind the curtain,” who can run but can’t hide.”
My initial impression was that Stanley was inspired by the work of David Hammons, and overlaid a bit of second-wave feminism. Hammons’ work addresses social injustice, economic inequality, and African American culture. Materials are often improvised and unconventional, and frequently there has been a performative or socially engaged element to his work.
“You Can Run” shares formal and conceptual similarities to Hammons’ works. Stanley’s prints are reminiscent of Hammons’ body prints from the 1970s. References to weight-training (the barbell) and track and field (the track uniform and cleats), resonate with Hammons’ references of basketball and boxing. Prevalence of red and blue nod to Hammons’ use of the American flag. His incorporation of prosaic objects into his aesthetic vernacular is suggested in Stanley’s cast and readymade hangers. However, whereas the tone of Hammons’ work is sardonic, Stanley’s is ironic.
My initial reaction to “You Can Run” was that its a little too dependent upon appropriation with too little substance, but the element of irony is its salvation. The gallery floor is strewn with small laser-cut double-headed gavel shapes, and the collection of red white and blue garments and banners seem like a hastily abandoned circus act. Stanley did not live through the civil rights movement, and has probably only experienced discrimination in the form of sexism. However, the current political environment does indeed resemble a circus, and in this context the symbolism of the double-headed mallet can be extrapolated to suggest baby’s rattle, an apt symbol of the infantile rhetoric that has become a hallmark of Donald Trump’s political campaign.
Despite being a little wobbly, “You Can Run” is solid work for such a young artist, and demonstrates ambitious potential. I appreciate that 337 director Duimstra is willing to open his gallery to such projects.
Looking ahead to the near future, Duimstra and photographer Stafford Smith intend to coordinate a happening involving their conjoined spaces.
337 Project Space is located at 337 South Division Avenue, and is open by appointment only.
Disclosure: I am a volunteer for SiTE:LAB, where the artist collaborated on piece in their last ArtPrize exhibit and gallery director Tom Duimstra is also a volunteer.
