ART CITIES: Vienna-SoiL Thornton

SoiL Thornton’s works resist categorization along preconceived notions of genre, medium, artistic subjectivity, biography, as well as gendered and racial identity. They have been traversing boundaries between media such as painting, sculpture, and photography; in turn, their work expands to installation, and they frequently act as a curator. Based in Brooklyn, New York, they have exhibited widely and internationally.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Secession Archive

A multifaceted play with language and meaning can be grasped in their work and exhibition titles. They have been working against the grain of some of the art world’s conventions, from medium specificity to questions of branding and commodification. In so doing, they inquire into modes of circulation of artworks, and how artists can become brands and accrue value with their public personas. To the artist, renegotiating the limits of artistic media and common presentation formats seems as crucial as unsettling expectations and conceptions of identity directed at individuals––above all, artists. For their exhibition “Choosing Suitor” at the Secession, SoiL Thornton has created a new body of work that addresses issues of gender identity and blurs their common attributions. The works range from photo series to paintings, combined acquired materials, and an inflatable sculpture. Stretching across almost the entire width of the exhibition space and standing just behind the glass doors, the tailor-made inflatable titled “Husband Chair (VS)” blocks the main entrance to the exhibition space. This sculpture is a recurring element in exhibitions by SoiL Thornton. Its measurements are based on the room’s dimensions, on the one hand, and on the height of the respective curator on the other. Invariably, the sculpture blocks access to a space and obstructs the view inside. With this deliberately restrictive set-up, the artist comments on a theme they have been paying attention to for a long time, namely the question of the postulated social accessibility of institutions, spaces, and discourses of art.

Photo: SoiL Thornton, Choosing Suitor, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Sophie Pölzl

Info: Secession, Friedrichstraße 12, Vienna, Austria, Duration: 15/9-12/11/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, https://secession.at/