Lori Hersberger, who has experimented with video, installation, sculpture, and sound, first gained international attention with Archaic Modern Suite, his carpet installation at the 1999 Venice Biennale. In his current show “Russian Roulette,” he continues to rethink painterly precepts using non-painterly means. White polystyrene walls partition the gallery into a hive of narrow chambers; large shards of a shattered mirror lie on the floor. Neon sculptures hang from the walls and ceiling: One spells out the words MY SONG, one resembles a light blue fried egg, and others are simple geometric shapes or amorphous forms in pink, yellow, orange, and red. The mirrored shards reflect the light, scattering refracted illumination throughout the space. According to Hersberger, paintings are no longer reproductions of the real world, but elements of a fascinating fantastical cosmos. Here, he’s offered viewers a portal straight into it.
Translated from German by Emily Speers Mears.
