The Living Watch Over The Living, Aviva Silverman solo show

About

Silverman’s installation consists of a mythic tableau in glass, developed for the unique architecture of the space. Two translucent angel marionettes hang on either side of an illuminated bird in flight, pierced by an arrow. This blown-glass scene floats in front of an abstract landscape painted on the back gallery wall. The work is visible both day and night.

The title and exhibition, The Living Watch Over the Living, advance the artist’s research on technological and spiritual mediums as creative instruments in recording one’s life. Silverman’s secular reading of angels across Abrahamic traditions draws parallels between heavenly observation and pervasive sensing, otherwise known as big data.

Hayley Silverman (b. 1986) lives and works in New York. Her interdisciplinary work in sculpture, photography, and theatre has been exhibited internationally at institutions and venues including MoMA PS1, New York, Sculpture Center, New York; Bodega, New York; Salzburger Kunstverein, Vienna; Liste, Basel; Ellis King, Dublin; New Theatre, Berlin. Writing on her work has appeared in numerous publications including Mousse, Artforum, and Frieze