Jessica Silverman
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Twinning
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Twinning

Twinning

February 27-April 5, 2025

Jessica Silverman is proud to host “Twinning” in Gallery 2, which revolves around a trio of sculptures by Elmgreen & Dragset alongside works by Esaí Alfredo, Diane Arbus, Diedrick Brackens, Man Ray, Ana Segovia, and Xie Lei. The exhibition explores the freedom, fate, rebellion, and conformity that accompany the emotional interdependence of coupling. The exhibition runs from February 27 through April 5, 2025.

INSTALLATION VIEW
SELECTED WORKS
ARTIST BIO
OTHER EXHIBITIONS

INSTALLATION VIEW

Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View

SELECTED WORKS

Elmgreen & Dragset
Second Marriage, 2008
Mirrors, porcelain sinks, stainless steel pipe work, taps and soap dispensers
69 3/8 x 81 1/4 x 29 7/8 inches / 176.2 x 206.4 x 75.9 cm
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Elmgreen & Dragset, Second Marriage

At the center of the show is Second Marriage (2008), a sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, which features two porcelain sinks with entwined stainless-steel pipes. Making its debut at the Venice Biennale, this witty series represents both the knotted entanglements of “wedlock” and the calm symmetry of a good pairing.

Alongside this piece hangs Couple: Fig. 17 (2018), a diptych in the form of two hand-crafted diving boards decorated with classic French Riviera stripes. The paired planks both mock and enrich minimalism by injecting function and narrative into what might have previously been perceived as pure form.

The third work from Elmgreen & Dragset, titled Powerless Structures: Fig. 91 (2018), consists of two pairs of black Levi’s jeans in a state of undress, abandoned but still evoking their human wearers, who might now be dignified nudes or disheveled figures “caught with their pants down.”

Elmgreen & Dragset
Couple, Fig. 17, 2018
MDF, PVC, aluminium, stainless steel
Individual: 86 5/8 x 18 7/8 x 12 5/8 inches / 220 x 48 x 32 cm
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Elmgreen & Dragset, Couple, Fig. 17
Elmgreen & Dragset
Powerless Structures, Fig. 91, 2018
Calvin Klein underwear, black Levi's
7 7/8 x 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches / 20 x 100 x 60 cm
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Elmgreen & Dragset, Powerless Structures, Fig. 91
Man Ray
Presse-Papier à Priape (Priapic Paperweight), 1972
Marble
20 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 13 inches / 52.1 x 36.8 x 33 cm
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Man Ray, Presse-Papier à Priape (Priapic Paperweight)
Punctuating this droll display is a historic marble sculpture by Man Ray. Conceived in the 1920s and executed in 1972, Presse-Papier à Priape (Priapic Paperweight) is composed of a twenty-inch-high marble cylinder with three identical marble balls, two of which can be seen as twins, aka a perfectly balanced pair of testicles. Definitively Dadaist and stylishly surreal, the work plays with the anagram of “papier” and “priape,” thereby honoring Priapus, the Greek god of fertility.
Less cocky and more romantic is Esaí Alfredo’s A Rare Night at the Yabucoa Port (2024), a painting inspired by the artist’s travels both abroad and within. The nocturne’s composition is cinematic, while its palette is typical of the artist’s version of magic realism.
Esaí Alfredo
A Rare Night at the Yabucoa Port / Una Noche Rara en el Puerto de Yabucoa, 2024
Oil on canvas
40 x 60 inches / 101.6 x 152.4 cm
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Esaí Alfredo, A Rare Night at the Yabucoa Port / Una Noche Rara en el Puerto de Yabucoa
Xie Lei
Twins, 2025
Oil on canvas
56 1/8 x 68 x 3 3/8 inches / 142.6 x 172.6 x 8.6 cm
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Lei Xie, Twins
Xie Lei’s Twins (2025) also portrays a dreamlike atmosphere, although here the two men rest head to toe on a grassland or float in a luminous, otherworldly green field. Both oil-on-canvas works suggest the empathetic mirroring and stylistic convergence that often befalls same-sex couples.
Ana Segovia
Composition VI, 2024
Oil on canvas
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches / 40 x 30 cm
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Ana Segovia, Composition VI
Ana Segovia
Composition XIII, 2024
Oil on canvas
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches / 40 x 30 cm
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Ana Segovia, Composition XIII
While Ana Segovia’s subject matter is more elusive, his brushwork is more conspicuous. In Composition VI (2024), the Mexican artist presents a figurative painting of two orchids within a larger abstract work. Longstanding metaphors of sexual desire, most orchid species are so-called “perfect flowers” that have both male and female reproductive organs. Composition XIII (2024), suggests a degree of self-sufficiency as it features a square painting of hands that can entertain and comfort each other at the center of its gestural abstraction.
Diedrick Brackens
covered in jewels and a thousand flowers, 2024
Woven cotton
Individual: 48 x 26 inches / 121.9 x 66 cm
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Diedrick Brackens, covered in jewels and a thousand flowers
Clothing has long been integral to rituals of coupling and matchmaking. Diedrick Brackens’ covered in jewels and a thousand flowers (2024), consists of a pair of long woven coats whose fibers, made with the cotton remains of previous projects, bear witness. The Bracken diptych offers a welcome visual contrast to that European icon of artistic autonomy and masculine individualism – Joseph Beuys’ beige felt suit. Using West African weaving techniques, the paired garments were worn during a wedding ceremony, effectively transforming the individual participants into an acclaimed couple.

“Twinning” is about the bonds and entanglements that arise for many couples, whether they are buddies, lovers, newlyweds, artistic collaborators, business partners, or committed spouses.

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