Michael E. Smith's Haunting Sculptural Interventions at Henry Moore Institute

Michael E. Smith presents a solo exhibition at Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, running through 18 June 2023. The American artist's installation features sparse, understated sculptural collages crafted from discarded objects like dilapidated furniture and obsolete technology, responding directly to the gallery's architecture. Works include a facedown flatscreen television with a flat pebble, a teal armchair adorned with taxidermied ducks, and a wall-mounted VHS recorder and DVD player titled BUGS. A sculpture of two stacked circular kitchen tables topped with a plastic milk bottle filled with red LEDs glows in the dark. The exhibition omits wall texts and labels, enhancing a spectral sense of absence. A video work behind the reception desk shows looped footage of a dog in a boarding kennel. Smith's approach references art-historical movements such as assemblage, conceptualism, and Post-minimalism, with works like untitled floating basketballs evoking Jeff Koons's Two Ball Total Equilibrium Tank. The installation's gloomy, half-installed appearance, with lights off and shutters closed, creates an uncanny domestic atmosphere charged with pathos and ritualistic undertones.