As he slammed himself into a wall, Gary Hill stuttered through his discourse on being and nothingness. After finishing Wall Piece in 2000, he was covered in bruises and could barely walk. His interest in theory he roots in sensation. Central for him is the idea of rupture. His focus is the seams and dislocations between sound, image, time and motion, between the real and the surreal.
Many aspire to their fusion, but Hill succeeds in giving thought a physical form. Consciousness comes from skin, eyes, mouths, brains
and hands; what sounds, motions and memories we make and why.
While the beauty of his work beguiles, its density frustrates. To
frustrate is to offend. Intellectuals are offensive in America. John Goodman spoke for his country as he lumbered down a burning
hallway in Barton Fink and roared, “I’ll
show you the life of the mind!”
With the thumps of Hill’s body scored to a strobe, Wall Piece is in Vortexhibition Polyphonica at the Henry Art Gallery. My review of the exhibit here. Erin Langner’s Peripheral Vision here.
Back to Goodman.
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