Ser Serpas Animates Late-Capitalist Epoch at Swiss Institute

Ser Serpas's exhibition 'Hall' at Swiss Institute, New York, through 23 April, presents photographs, paintings, and a floor installation that resist easy categorization. The Los Angeles-born artist, who first gained notice in 2017 for sculptures made from urban detritus, now shows 31 photographs documenting her choreographic process with found objects, seven large oil paintings on jute, and four vitrines of old journal entries. The sole sculpture, 'Partition Play' (2023), repurposes a wall from the previous exhibition by Karen Lamassonne, smashing it and laying it flat as a crimson floor piece. Photographs by Serpas and Rafik Greiss in Paris capture her wrestling with a car door and manipulating a mattress. Paintings based on cell-phone photos and pre-op images depict cropped, anonymized bodies with thick strokes. The exhibition subverts demands for legible biographical work, especially from marginalized artists.