Contributed by Millree Hughes / With precisely targeted color, texture, and feel, Ross Knight’s sculptures in his solo show “Continuous Squeeze” at Off Paradise get at what physical artifacts mean in terms of our fears, fantasies, and daily struggles. Color is critical in Knight’s work. He keeps the palette small and specific, the colors he chooses leaning towards youthful nostalgia: the baby-blue of 1960s cars in Coupled Prop, a buoy yellow with custard drips in another Coupled Prop, the creamy hue of a rawhide dog chew-toy in Device. The band in Adjusted resembles an old, spent balloon, once yellow-orange but turned raw sienna with time. Does anyone ever get over a popped balloon? It’s a toddler’s tragedy. The fleshy knots, like umbilical cord buttons, are rendered useless.
I was reminded obliquely of Matthew Barney’s sports hospital sculptures. But if Knight’s pieces summon a medical purpose, or are meant to reference some kind of physical enhancement or detriment, he is not contemplating Barney’s supermen. Adjusted has to do with merely raising one’s heel. A white vertical pole ends in a white base that acts like a simplified wooden sandal. A tongue of medical hosiery beige peeks out beneath it. Illustrating the tension alluded to in the show’s title is a rubber strap that goes under the sandal. Several pieces titled Coupled Prop incorporate therapeutic urethane pillows and evoke various improbable kinds of sexual congress. Lovers slump over each other or are held up by their partners. At the same time, they could be seen as surreal tractor, tugboat, or train couplings, made from fleshy globs.
Knight’s sculptures, which often include repurposed items, seem to be in the process of changing position or even form, like objects you might see in passing or in a reflection. Such a moment triggers a raft of unconscious assumptions. Knight takes that moment and stretches it, plumbing feelings and thoughts that produce questions in and for the material world that can yield rewarding insights. His work poignantly reflects that not insignificant understanding.
“Ross Knight: Continuous Squeeze,” Off Paradise, 120 Walker Street, New York, NY. Through March 17, 2025.
About the author: Millree Hughes is a New York-based digital artist.
“The band in Adjusted resembles an old, spent balloon, once yellow-orange but turned raw sienna with time. Does anyone ever get over a popped balloon? It’s a toddler’s tragedy. The fleshy knots, like umbilical cord buttons, are rendered useless.” Just so good!