Harper’s is pleased to announce The Condition of Things, Stacy Leigh’s first solo presentation with the gallery. The exhibition features new works by Leigh completed in 2022. The Condition of Things opens Saturday, August 20, 6–8 PM, with a reception attended by the artist.
In The Condition of Things, Stacy Leigh reckons with the plight of patriarchal convention across humorous and at times, ominous portraits. Here, the New York-based artist paints unruly women from imagination, many of which were created in response to the challenges to Roe vs. Wade. The protagonist of Bella smells BS wears a comical scowl of disgust as she purses her lips and shifts her gaze away from the viewer. Meanwhile, the woman rendered in Not even botox could hide her feels bores a deadpan glare, nearly drilling into the stares of her challengers. Collectively, these daring women sneer at social and legislative attempts to inhibit their bodily autonomy.
Repeatedly, the artist sets her subjects in the thick of suburbia’s maddening ennui. This boredom tends to befall and inspire characters as seen in works like One woman’s duff is another woman’s ace. In the comically eerie work, a disgruntled woman wearing a coral tennis dress clutches her fist as she grasps a golf club—a defeated figure’s limp golf shoes emerge from her left-hand side. She meets the viewer with a slick gaze, while behind her, a man scurries into the forest, away from the deadly scene.
Much like One woman’s duff is another woman’s ace, The life of drone day 24 (Brooke Shields’ neighbor) threatens as much as it amuses. Depicted from above, the woman presented in this work poses in a red bikini, flexing her hips and tilting her head as if preparing to be photographed. To her right, a man floats lifelessly in a dismal swimming pool. Both surrounded by landscapes replete with infinite, woodsy greens, and looming blues, these works, like Big D NRG reveal the sinister fallacy that is the American Dream.
In Big D NRG, devoid of figuration, color embodies the insidiousness of Americana. Here, a tidy house sits atop a manicured green lawn. Menacing yellow light shines through unassuming curtains that look onto a quiet street. Shadowy grays and violets taint the clouds above and seem to threaten a downpour on this otherwise placid landscape. This tension which refutes the disquiet of suburban domesticity is the guiding force behind The Condition of Things. Leigh’s observant, desirous, and disobedient characters stir up much-needed alarm in this contemporary moment. Ultimately, the artist’s riotous subjects challenge the onslaught of social and political regulations that restrict and marginalize; throughout The Condition of Things, women’s bodies are calamitous weapons of social defiance.
—Written by Daniella Brito
Stacy Leigh (b. 1971, New York, NY) attended New York University, and currently lives and works in New York City. Most recently, she participated in exhibitions at Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles (2022); Harper’s, Los Angeles, New York, and East Hampton (2022, 2021, and 2020); 303 Gallery, New York (2021); Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest and Los Angeles (2021 and 2020); Flag Art Foundation, New York (2019); and Fortnight Institute, New York (2017). Reviews of her work have appeared in Artnet, Vulture, and Office, among other publications.