In “Almost a Kiss,” her first solo show at Tracy Williams, French artist Morgane Tschiember shows compelling sculptural works that share the quality of being shaped under restraint. A set of colorful ceramic “Shibaris,” named after the Japanese form of bondage, are suspended by linen ropes from an iron lattice. Each vessel assumes a different shape, variously pinched and folded before firing. The “Dust Devils,” a set of blown glass sculptures with embedded dust, seem to droop like organs, or tears, across iron armatures.
The show is titled after a track from industrial band Throbbing Gristle’s 2007 reunion album The Endless Not. “Almost a Kiss,” sung by Genesis P-Orridge, seems like a departure for a band better known for “Hamburger Lady” and “Discipline.” Still, Genesis’s vocal stylings, described in a Pitchfork review as “the voice of someone who needs a restraining order,” retain TG’s signature unsettling quality. Tschiember’s sculptures evoke this haunting, visceral sound.
Pictured: Installation view of “Almost a Kiss.” Courtesy Tracy Williams, New York.