Sam Lipp

September 10–October 16, 2016

"Do you smell FUMES?" is asked multiple times in this exhibition. The question has been asked before in other contexts. It could also be rephrased or reinterpreted as the questions "Were you exposed to something?" "Did you experience trauma?" "Are you sensitive?" "Do you sense things?"

At its core, an idea of purity is contained within the prevailing image of happiness. In America, joy (Joy™) is a viscous lemon­-scented liquid kept next to the sink. Aromas, unlike language, dissipate blindly and leave little residue.

Exposure to the outside always poses a threat, and imagining purity entails the belief that being inside is possible. Like a profane tide gathering around a sandcastle, fortification ensures the continued position of impropriety, forever breaching the gates.

The prohibition of incest (which derives from the Latin root incestus, meaning unchaste and impure) is conceived by anthropology as a culturally universal regulation, and therefore an original structure of law. Through this recoding, anthropology succeeds in transcribing sexuality into the realm of original law present from the dawn of civilization.


Sam Lipp (b. 1989) is based in New York. This is his second solo exhibition at the gallery. Recent exhibitions include Night Gallery, LA; Balice Hertling, Paris; Central Fine, Miami; Neochrome, Turin; Galerie Éric Hussenot, Paris; Arcadia Missa, London; and What Pipeline, Detroit. He is the co-director of Queer Thoughts, a gallery in New York.