Twinning

Elmgreen & Dragset, Esaí Alfredo, Diane Arbus, Diedrick Brackens, Xie Lei, Man Ray, Ana Segovia

Jessica Silverman is proud to host Twinning in Gallery 2, which revolves around a trio of sculptures by Elmgreen & Dragset alongside works by Esaí Alfredo, Diane Arbus, Diedrick Brackens, Man Ray, Ana Segovia, and Xie Lei. The exhibition explores the freedom, fate, rebellion, and conformity that accompany the emotional interdependence of coupling.

At the center of the show is Second Marriage (2008), a sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, which features two porcelain sinks with entwined stainless-steel pipes. Making its debut at the Venice Biennale, this witty series represents both the knotted entanglements of "wedlock" and the calm symmetry of a good pairing.

Punctuating this droll display is a historic marble sculpture by Man Ray. Conceived in the 1920s and executed in 1972, Presse-Papier à Priape (Priapic Paperweight) is composed of a twenty-inch-high marble cylinder with three identical marble balls, two of which can be seen as twins, aka a perfectly balanced pair of testicles. Definitively Dadaist and stylishly surreal, the work plays with the anagram of "papier" and "priape," thereby honoring Priapus, the Greek god of fertility.

Less cocky and more romantic is Esaí Alfredo's A Rare Night at the Yabucoa Port (2024), a painting inspired by the artist's travels both abroad and within. The nocturne's composition is cinematic, while its palette is typical of the artist's version of magic realism.

Xie Lei's Twins (2025) also portrays a dreamlike atmosphere, although here the two men rest head to toe on a grassland or float in a luminous, otherworldly green field. Both oil-on-canvas works suggest the empathetic mirroring and stylistic convergence that often befalls same-sex couples.

While Ana Segovia's subject matter is more elusive, his brushwork is more conspicuous. In Composition VI (2024), the Mexican artist presents a figurative painting of two orchids within a larger abstract work. Longstanding metaphors of sexual desire, most orchid species are so-called "perfect flowers" that have both male and female reproductive organs. Composition XIII (2024) suggests a degree of self-sufficiency as it features a square painting of hands that can entertain and comfort each other at the center of its gestural abstraction.

Clothing has long been integral to rituals of coupling and matchmaking. Diedrick Brackens' covered in jewels and a thousand flowers (2024) consists of a pair of long woven coats whose fibers, made with the cotton remains of previous projects, bear witness. The Bracken diptych offers a welcome visual contrast to that European icon of artistic autonomy and masculine individualism – Joseph Beuys' beige felt suit. Using West African weaving techniques, the paired garments were worn during a wedding ceremony, effectively transforming the individual participants into an acclaimed couple.

Twinning is about the bonds and entanglements that arise for many couples, whether they are buddies, lovers, newlyweds, artistic collaborators, business partners, or committed spouses.