Tomorrow night, SOIL will be opening their newest show Light Ways. The exhibition will feature four artists, Emily Counts, Marisa Manso, Stephen Nachtigall, and Jessie Rose Vala, and asks the question: “What is the agency of light?” Though the query is a bit nebulous, purposely so I’m guessing, the exhibition explores the quality of light itself, and all of the different ways this force that surrounds us, that we depend on, can manifest.
Each artist in Light Ways works with light in some form—neon, illumination through stained glass, glowing screens, reflective surfaces. There’s real diversity and distinction in form, material, and approach, though from the looks of it all of the works seem to speak to each other. It’s cohesive—or at the very least, interesting.
Pictured above is Vala’s “Tears of Inanna” which kind of reminds me of, like, a soft reinterpretation of vaporwave aesthetics. Inanna, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, is crying neon tears into a stoneware vase. I love this. I want it on a t-shirt. Below is one of Counts’s pieces—it looks like it’s made of ceramic and has these surreal painted images over a brown cow background. The light bit comes into play with the shard of glass sticking out of the top, with the red stained glass bit casting a reflection on the wall behind it, as you can see in the background. Very delicate. Very cool.
SOIL will be open tomorrow, April 4th from 6 pm – 8 pm.
