E C H O

Melissa Pokorny and lucy puls

june 22 - august 3

A show (almost) 40 years in the making

The exhibition E C H O explores the dynamic interplay between past and present, as well as public and private realms. It investigates how memory, place, and history continuously shift and reshape over time. This body of work reflects on the enduring residues of the past, revealing how they influence and inform our present relationships with places, objects, and environments.

In presenting Melissa Pokorny’s and Lucy Puls’s work together, the show illuminates an unintentional yet captivating resonance between their pieces. Pokorny’s work engages with the architectural features of the space, creating interactions that echo the room’s original elements. Her pieces, which include doppelgängers, and scrying mirrors, evoke a sense of hauntology—the merging of past, present, and future. These reflections are mirrored in Puls’s reduplicated domestic items, which echo the historical use of the space as a boarding house and family home.

Both artists use a visual language that amplifies this dialogue. Pokorny’s incorporation of intense greens in small prints on formed aluminum and reflective mylar mirrors Puls’s use of silver-plated serving ware and light-reflective materials. This shared color palette and material approach create a visual reverberation, challenging the viewer’s perception and suggesting deeper layers of meaning.

Puls’s doily pieces, embedded with everyday objects, tell a story of life’s complexity and interconnectedness. The pre-title “amatum,” meaning loved or beloved, underscores the intimate, sometimes chaotic nature of life. This theme resonates with the exhibition’s reflection on the house's history and the socio-political context. Puls’s oversized necklace, made from folded newspaper and Swarovski crystals, symbolizes fertility, endurance, and the search for guidance in times of uncertainty—echoing the cyclical nature of history and personal experience.

The exhibition space itself—a former home and doctor's office—serves as a potent backdrop. The space’s history, marked by wallpaper detritus, exposed lathe, and vintage fixtures, mirrors the themes of the show. The works of Pokorny and Puls engage with this space as equals, creating a dialogue between the building’s past and the present moment.

Pokorny’s scrying mirrors, inspired by early 20th-century spirit work, further this conversation. These mirrors, along with Puls’s use of embedded artifacts, suggest how people turn to various means—whether astrology or historical echoes—to seek answers and make sense of their experiences.

The synergy between the artists’ works and the historical setting creates a layered narrative that invites viewers to consider the persistent reverberations of the past in our present lives. The dialogue between Pokorny’s and Puls’s pieces reveals how art can act as a mirror to both personal histories and collective experiences, making visible the often-hidden connections that shape our understanding of the world. This exhibition not only highlights the depth and breadth of Pokorny and Puls’s individual practices but also unveils the intricate tension of their parallel paths, which have converged after nearly 40 years. The works in E C H O engage in a compelling conversation between past and present, illustrating how artistic practices can reflect and influence one another over time.

-Gabrielle Banzhaf