Item # 25-033
Erica Stoller

GALLERY I

Erica Stoller, Item # 25-033, 2022, Manila rope, parachute cord, metal D-rings, Wall-to-wall.

March 19 - April 17, 2022

Opening reception: Saturday, March 19 from 12-6 PM

A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Item # 25-033, Erica Stoller’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. Continuing her use of unconventional industrial materials to define space, Item # 25-033 is a single wall-to-wall installation of Manila rope. The installation fills the gallery with lines of rope that define planes, create an enclosure, and throw shadows on the walls and floor.

Item # 25-033 investigates the tactile, tensile, and even splintery qualities of the Manila rope. While manufactured rope is available in an array of colors and in smooth textures, the rope in this show has been selected for its material qualities at the expense of color. Attached to the walls with D-rings, the lines of rope in Item # 25-033 are tight and straight. Knots of orange parachute cord highlight the rope’s intersections and crisscrosses. These colorful “zings” tighten the structure, causing the work to respond to air currents and sound with a soft vibration. Despite the impersonal materials, elements of handwork are visible in the wrapping, knotting, and tying of the rope and cord.

In the past, Stoller has worked with plumbing and electrical elements, even hula hoops and swimming noodles. Whether working with rope, PEX plumbing tubes, rubber, metal, cardboard, or paper, Stoller’s subject matter is always material itself. Cutting, bending, folding, and attaching are means of investigating the physical qualities of her chosen materials. There are no metaphors here; the stuff is what it’s all about. Stoller has said that the hardware store is her Mecca. The title of this exhibition, Item # 25-033, is the Home Depot code for 300 feet of 3.8 inch Manila rope.

Erica Stoller lives outside of New York City and has been affiliated with A.I.R Gallery for nine years. She graduated from Bennington College, worked at the Brooklyn Museum and for Ileana Sonnabend in Paris, and for many years was involved with photography and architecture as the director of Esto.

View the Press Release here.

View Erica Stoller’s page here.