In conjunction with the 2013 Newark Open Doors and supported by Gallery Aferro and the Newark Arts Council, mixed media artist Phoenix Lindsey-Hall will hold her first Newark solo show at 85 Market Street titled, “Slugger.” With quiet beauty and grace, Lindsey-Hall transforms the everyday objects that were used as weapons in specific gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender and hate crime cases. She pays special attention to the baseball bat as an American symbol of masculinity, sport and instrument of force. Her large scale installation, “Flame Tempered,” is an organic configuration of 75 ceramic baseball bats suspended as if in mid air tumble. Illuminated with a single bare bulb casting long shadows through out the space, the work is an explosion of drama, perception and emotion.
Primarily using ceramic, clay becomes skin as she presses into the object’s surface, leaving the trace of the artist’s hand and simultaneously representing the act of violence. Here the twisting, mutilation and ultimate undoing of the body is transferred to the objects. The disturbance of everyday objects calls into question the social system in which they exist.
The opening reception is October 10, 2013 at 85 Market Street, Newark, NJ from 7:00-10:00pm.
Additionally, as an artist in residence at Gallery Aferro, Lindsey-Hall will also participate in the gallery’s Open Studios on Sunday October 13, 2013 from 11:00 am-5:00 pm. Gallery Aferro is located at 73 Market Street, Newark, NJ.