Kayode Ojo at Von Ammon Co.
Kayode Ojo’s “Half-Life,” the artist’s first solo outing in Washington, DC, is a haunting and deeply romantic presentation that options sixteen new sculptures comprising an assortment of luxe-looking items, from classic cameras and glossy handcuffs to beaded purses and a pair of rhinestone boots atop a mirrored pedestal. But regardless of the factory-fresh sheen of his supplies, the present is suffused with a deathly air—the artist has turned the gallery right into a funereal showroom.
Ojo’s hand is surgical and exacting. His artwork, rife with unblemished, reflective surfaces, achieves a clear and exact symmetry. Although we aren’t invited to the touch, the work may be very a lot about seeing and being seen. Whereas the present is starkly monochromatic—black leather-based, glowing glass, silvery chains, polished metal—flashes of coloration crop up right here and there, as we see within the gilded shimmer of a calculator from CB2, the yellow cowl of Hilton Als’s essay assortment White Women (2013), and a brown bottle of Virginia Black American Whiskey, all of that are a part of the sculpture Half-Life 16, 2023. The work’s materials checklist reads like an absurdist poem: ZARA MLTRY JMPST 09, Cymax Enterprise 29.53″ vast real leather-based foldable accent lounge chair (white), Simplee Attire girls’s lengthy sleeve fluffy faux-fur heat coat, The Dreidel Firm metal metallic play handcuffs fake police hero cops Halloween dress-up, and so forth. It’s an extra of fast-fashion objects, low cost issues made to look costly—an opulence that’s extra gold-plated than real gold.
The melancholy embedded in Ojo’s artwork is palpable as you progress by way of the present, however there’s additionally a way of exuberance, as if one is dancing on the finish of some fabulous—and ultimate—occasion. “Half-Life” affords up a chic ache, an exhibition of gleaming objects that replicate the unusual situations of our dire current.
