04 Nov 2020

Such fleas, ere they approach the eye

Royal Society of American Art

Reviewed by Zorawar Sidhu

Following a summer of online-only exhibitions, "Such fleas, ere they approach the eye" parodies the virtual experience of artworks at iPhone size. Here curator Chris Lucius presents the works of twelve artists on a series of walls fabricated especially for the exhibition. The entire show, artworks and walls, is at the traditional dollhouse scale of 1:12. Each miniature tableau serves as a prompt to extrapolate an imaginary room, its inhabitants, and beyond.

Only (2020), an elegant watercolor by Kat Chamberlin, is mounted above a fireplace in a room richly paneled in hardwood framed with Ionic pilasters and festooned with a row of garlands, all intricately carved. Home (2020) by Katie Hector hangs askew in a punk house interior bearing the imagined history of a destroyed room. Drywall covered in grandmotherly wallpaper is torn away to expose wiring, studs, and insulation crafted from pink felting wool. Inventive material transformations like this overtake the collaborative nature of this exhibition, as Lucius's presence behind each work reveals this to be a solo show in disguise.