New York
A display of silver Escher-inspired stairs leading nowhere, some absurdly upside down, some supporting tensely poised silver wheelchairs (wheels both down and up), burst like a hallucination upon visitors to PS1. Without exception, gallery-goers whipped out their cell phones, because no one could be sure that their dazzled faculties of perception would retain the scene without a photo. Samara Golden’s The Flat Side of the Knife (2014–15) conjured a witty, dream-like atmosphere that toyed with the subconscious while tweaking our certainty about what we think we see. Those who paused long enough to try to make sense of the visuals were presented with a rich environment. A video of a beach scene, waves crashing across a rock, was projected sky-side down. Couches and side tables clung upside down to the ceiling, all but the flowered rug rendered in white or silver. Wine spilled from a tumbled glass overhead marred a table with a burgundy stain, upsetting the artist’s pale palette. …see the entire review in the print version of January/February’s Sculpture magazine.
