There’s one thing about seeing a neon sign up daylight: The same old associations with seedy nightlife or unbridled consumerism are swept away by an otherworldly glow of sunshine upon gentle. It could actually really feel nearly non secular in the best context. That glow illuminates elements of Low-slung Guarantees on the Tongues of the Religious, EJ Hill’s solo exhibition at 52 Walker. With out irony, Hill attracts on his Catholic upbringing to domesticate a secular spirituality and an area for therapeutic and hope.
The present contains work, church kneelers and mixed-media works constructed from them, and two neon items, however the centerpiece is the artist himself. Hill is current day by day throughout the gallery’s opening hours, kneeling in silent reverence inside a big curtained space in the principle house.
Set up view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Guarantees on the Tongues of the Religious at 52 Walker, New York (courtesy 52 Walker, New York)
Upon first look, Hill’s inspiration for the artworks seems to be much less his childhood Catholicism than the agnostic religion of contemporary artwork: The primary neon work on view is a tall, white rectangle flanked on all sides by sq. “paintings” of multicolored vertical stripes which can be really composed of the kneelers’ cushions with indentations from the artist’s knees. A protracted picket church pew faces the wall. All collectively, they invoke modernism’s sacred or quasi-sacred areas, from the Rothko Chapel to a James Turrell set up.
By itself, the thought of artworks made out of ecclesiastical objects evoking modernism inside a white-cube gallery feels a bit too on the nostril, without delay enamored of its predecessors and self-evident. And a number of other colourful work depicting clouds and flowers can come throughout as too cute of their naivete; Hill displayed related works in 2022 at OxyArts in Los Angeles, the place they had been tasked with carrying maybe an excessive amount of of the present’s weight. The distinction right here is his precise presence. It’s understated — he may be glimpsed by means of a sliver within the crimson curtains, and he won’t register at first in case you’re not already conscious he’s there. Viewers can enter the curtained space a number of toes behind Hill, the place a extra elaborate neon work — a white Ionic column with a blue cloud connected — is put in on the wall.
Set up view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Guarantees on the Tongues of the Religious at 52 Walker (photograph Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)
From there, Hill is seen from the again, kneeling in a prayer stance. He’s unmistakably the present’s emotional heart, his quietude making the whole lot else really feel extra profound. But that is, in spite of everything, a gallery, not a chapel, which doesn’t reduce the gravity of his devotion as a lot as situate it in a lineage of efficiency artwork. Durational and different endurance performances are already charged with non secular undercurrents — artists each give of themselves because the artwork and undergo for it. This state of affairs casts the artist someplace between creator and image. Not like a White artist like Chris Burden (consider his modern-day crucifixion, “Trans-Fixed,” from 1974), Hill’s efficiency as a Black artist is layered with the extra dynamic of the strain to “perform” id for the predominantly White gaze inside the blue-chip house.
As half of an entire, the artworks acquire which means that’s typically misplaced individually. In dialog with these bodily objects, Hill’s efficiency cuts by means of potential cynicism or preciousness and proffers a way of solace — no less than that was my takeaway. Durational performances don’t require devotional themes to really feel non secular, however by interweaving them, Hill appears to be inviting anybody who enters the present to share in his gesture of religion. In different phrases, right here, spirituality is just not a pose, however an providing.
EJ Hill, (left) “Receivers” and (proper) “And in This Corner” (each 2025) (photograph Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)
Set up view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Guarantees on the Tongues of the Religious at 52 Walker, New York (courtesy 52 Walker, New York)
EJ Hill, “Vigil (for the anchors)” (2025) (photograph Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)
EJ Hill, “Symbol for a Stylite” (2025) (photograph Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)
EJ Hill: Low-slung Guarantees on the Tongues of the Religious continues at 52 Walker (52 Walker Avenue, Tribeca, Manhattan) by means of September 13. The exhibition was curated by Ebony L. Haynes.
