High Maintenance
Duo Show at Chicago Artists Coalition (March 2023) Exhibited with Seung Jae Lee, curated by Nicky Ni.
New City Review: Squeaky Clean: A Review of “High Maintenance” at the Chicago Artists Coalition
High Maintenance examines the never ending and seeming futile labor required in the maintenance of glossy architectural facades. Sections of skyscraper window frames are embedded with urban debris, architectural structures drip with dirty window cleaner, undermining the highly polished aesthetics of power.
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drip.
drip.
drip.
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Tensile Strength
Threaded rod, beam clamp, eyelet, rags, stainless steel bucket, Super Green All Purpose Cleaner.
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Windex
Plexiglass, Aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, dead leaves, weeds, pebble, bird droppings, pen cap, brick fragment.
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Windex (Detail)
Plexiglass, Aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, dead leaves, weeds, pebble, bird droppings, pen cap, brick fragment.
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Soft Scrub
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
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Soft Scrub (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
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Soft Scrub (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
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Arm + Hammer
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, pigeon feather, weeds, pebbles, dust, twigs, rusted nail.
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Arm + Hammer (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, pigeon feather, weeds, pebbles, dust, twigs, rusted nail.
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Comet
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, bottle cap, pigeon feather, pebble, dust, dead leaf.
Duo Show at Chicago Artists Coalition (March 2023) Exhibited with Seung Jae Lee, curated by Nicky Ni.
New City Review: Squeaky Clean: A Review of “High Maintenance” at the Chicago Artists Coalition
High Maintenance examines the never ending and seeming futile labor required in the maintenance of glossy architectural facades. Sections of skyscraper window frames are embedded with urban debris, architectural structures drip with dirty window cleaner, undermining the highly polished aesthetics of power.
drip.
drip.
drip.
Tensile Strength
Threaded rod, beam clamp, eyelet, rags, stainless steel bucket, Super Green All Purpose Cleaner.
Windex
Plexiglass, Aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, dead leaves, weeds, pebble, bird droppings, pen cap, brick fragment.
Windex (Detail)
Plexiglass, Aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, dead leaves, weeds, pebble, bird droppings, pen cap, brick fragment.
Soft ScrubPlexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
Soft Scrub (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
Soft Scrub (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, steel ring, chain, stainless steel bucket, Soft Scrub Bleach, cigarette butt, dust, pebble, weeds.
Arm + Hammer
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, pigeon feather, weeds, pebbles, dust, twigs, rusted nail.
Arm + Hammer (Detail)
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, pigeon feather, weeds, pebbles, dust, twigs, rusted nail.
Comet
Plexiglass, aluminum angles, bolts, silicone, bottle cap, pigeon feather, pebble, dust, dead leaf.
Gallery Text by Nicky Ni
The many forms of silicone—liquid, gel, or rubber—find themselves as window sealant, skin products, and dry-cleaning solvent. They are interconnector between inside and outside, the interlocutor between oil and water.
This text unfolds in cycles: delicate, color, permanent press. Each cycle alludes to a set of gestures, bodily movements, movements that wear off the body, movements that occupy the negative space, unchoreographed by nature and time. We begin with cleaning.
Back when I was attending primary school in China, we all had to participate in cleaning the classroom. The ones in charge of cleaning the windows would climb to a desk to stand on the window sill, boys exterior, girls interior. We had safety iron window guards to latch onto, and each other. There was no Windex, not even vinegar or alcohol. It was just soap, water, and a lot of newspaper. To get rid of the streaks, we breathed on the window and wiped with newspaper. The windows had our secrets. The only partition between us was the glass. Repetition was intimate.
Repeat filling, dipping, wiping, scrubbing, scraping
Lever House, the sleek, post-war modernist architecture icon was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrills (SOM) in 1952 as the Manhattan headquarters for the soap monolith, Lever Brothers Company. When smoothness and ultra-clean were more than just metaphors, maintenance was part of the forethought. It was a building with a built-in window-washing rig, and the first one to have a large-scale facade designed to accommodate a motorized gondola. The window washers would be a thin glass apart from the desk workers; together they have become part of the capitalist masterpiece.
Repeat soiling, spinning, dissolving, drying, evaporating
According to a 2015 study, Koreans are 34 times more concentrated in the independent dry cleaning business than other immigrant groups in the US. Skills and advice are passed around the community outside of work, in family or religious gatherings. Ethnic expertise is a result of social isolation.
Repeat washing, cutting, buzzing, shaving, sweeping
Dust always finds its way back home. They are not composed of human skin but mostly dirt, soot, pollen, from the outside, mixed with fluff—from carpet and clothes—and hair. How funny that hair is to us. It’s sensual or it’s disgusting; it depends on where and how we find it. A lock of hair in a love letter, a strand of hair on a hotel pillow, hair in the armpit, hair right above the upper lip, hair shaved and plugged, hairball in the shower drain.
Repeat not because persistence is a virtue. To maintain there’s no end.
– Nicky Ni
Photography by Guanyu Xu, Tensile Strength photography by Ji Yang.
The many forms of silicone—liquid, gel, or rubber—find themselves as window sealant, skin products, and dry-cleaning solvent. They are interconnector between inside and outside, the interlocutor between oil and water.
This text unfolds in cycles: delicate, color, permanent press. Each cycle alludes to a set of gestures, bodily movements, movements that wear off the body, movements that occupy the negative space, unchoreographed by nature and time. We begin with cleaning.
Back when I was attending primary school in China, we all had to participate in cleaning the classroom. The ones in charge of cleaning the windows would climb to a desk to stand on the window sill, boys exterior, girls interior. We had safety iron window guards to latch onto, and each other. There was no Windex, not even vinegar or alcohol. It was just soap, water, and a lot of newspaper. To get rid of the streaks, we breathed on the window and wiped with newspaper. The windows had our secrets. The only partition between us was the glass. Repetition was intimate.
Repeat filling, dipping, wiping, scrubbing, scraping
Lever House, the sleek, post-war modernist architecture icon was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrills (SOM) in 1952 as the Manhattan headquarters for the soap monolith, Lever Brothers Company. When smoothness and ultra-clean were more than just metaphors, maintenance was part of the forethought. It was a building with a built-in window-washing rig, and the first one to have a large-scale facade designed to accommodate a motorized gondola. The window washers would be a thin glass apart from the desk workers; together they have become part of the capitalist masterpiece.
Repeat soiling, spinning, dissolving, drying, evaporating
According to a 2015 study, Koreans are 34 times more concentrated in the independent dry cleaning business than other immigrant groups in the US. Skills and advice are passed around the community outside of work, in family or religious gatherings. Ethnic expertise is a result of social isolation.
Repeat washing, cutting, buzzing, shaving, sweeping
Dust always finds its way back home. They are not composed of human skin but mostly dirt, soot, pollen, from the outside, mixed with fluff—from carpet and clothes—and hair. How funny that hair is to us. It’s sensual or it’s disgusting; it depends on where and how we find it. A lock of hair in a love letter, a strand of hair on a hotel pillow, hair in the armpit, hair right above the upper lip, hair shaved and plugged, hairball in the shower drain.
Repeat not because persistence is a virtue. To maintain there’s no end.
– Nicky Ni
Photography by Guanyu Xu, Tensile Strength photography by Ji Yang.