Nancy Cohen – Support Systems
Humans are fragile, vulnerable, tenuous, and yet we maintain an equilibrium; we endure and persevere. Many of the intimate pieces shown together here are part of three bodies of work that explore the tension of this delicate balance—the Gurney, Hammock and Procession series. Gurneys and hammocks are quite literally support systems for human fragility. Here, though, the support systems themselves are fragile. Likewise, a procession is an orderly, formal movement of humanity; here, movement is immobilized and humanity, though implied, is absent. In fact, in all this work, there is an uneasy invitation to supply a human presence, an intimation of support that, however, cannot be realized: The equilibrium is already too precarious, the materials too delicate and the scale too fine. And yet, these works of glass and paper and monofilament are in their own way strong and sure. Like us, they balance surprisingly well against the odds. Humanity is easily broken or torn, but—these works remind us—it lives on and finds or makes the necessary systems of support.