Installation view of In a Free State, 2026. Image courtesy of Luhring Augustine.
In a Free State
Luhring Augustine | 17 White Street, New York June 26 – July 31, 2026
We often imagine freedom as an escape from violence, grief, or uncertainty. In a Free State, currently on view at Luhring Augustine, however, proposes that freedom can still emerge while remaining inside contradiction rather than only once resolving it. Curated by artists Salman Toor and Doron Langberg, the exhibition acknowledges the contradictions of grief, eroticism, violence, and ridiculousness. It places comic absurdity right alongside violence. Across painting, sculpture, embroidery, photography, and video, the show argues that persistence in absurdity is its own form of liberation.
A first curatorial project for both Toor and Langberg, the figurative painters make an interesting move by putting together a show that keeps the body centered but continually transformed in new ways: an otherworldly creature made of tongues, arrows emerging from a ribcage, tangled animal limbs, and most notably, an upside-down bondage crucifixion in Inverted World by Carlos Motta. The video depicts men in leather hats and metal chains, skillfully binding wrists with rope before hoisting a man by his legs. The video is sensual, tactile, and painful, closing the binary between suffering and pleasure. Moans of ecstasy and pain echo through the gallery, reminding viewers to experience the exhibition through the contradictions of its works.
Read full article at impulsemagazine.com
