The Tower

Tyler Akers, Amanda Ba, Elijah Burgher, Peter Cage, Patrick Carroll, Kevin Cobb, Anthony Cudahy, Marc Armitano Domingo, Hank Ehrenfried, Edie Fake, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Gordon Hall, Meredith James, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, Alli Lemon, André & Evan Lenox-Samour, Ian Lewandowski, Leeza Meksin, Nick Naber, Luke O'Halloran, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Tura Oliveira, Alina Perez, Alison Ruttan, Rachel Stern, Sara Stern

Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG) is proud to present The Tower, a group exhibition curated by OyG co-director and artist, Adam Liam Rose. The exhibition spans OyG’s Main Gallery, Project Space, and The Skirt, our dedicated space for site-responsive installations.

The Tower brings together the work of artists exploring the various symbolic archetypes of the vertical structure, ranging from human aspiration toward the divine, to psychological connections with catastrophe. As a form, the tower carries the weight of historical and spiritual associations: it is the Tower of Babel, symbolizing ego and the friction of miscommunication; it is the sixteenth card of the Tarot, representing a moment of sudden upheaval, confusion, and extreme change; and it is the panopticon, taking on the form of a "godly" overseer—the all-seeing and unavoidable lens of modern surveillance. The tower is often associated with power and access, and several artists in the show examine and question how elevated vision may dictate authority and mobility. Beyond these traditional anchors, some artists focus on the structure’s intimate, queer, or positive associations, representing moments of clarity, "eureka!," transformation, and community resilience. Through painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, ceramic, performance, video and photography, artists in The Tower navigate these ideas through both abstraction and figuration, often leaning into surreal and metaphysical interpretations that transform architectural height into a vessel for human ambition and spiritual inquiry. From literal stone structures to psychological boundaries, the tower evokes our desire to transcend the earthly, and the simultaneous danger and freedom in forgetting our foundations.