The nuance of intimacy is the focal point of James Cherry’s solo exhibition at NOON Projects. Entitled “Fraternal”—a nod to both Cherry being a twin and to relationships amongst men—the exhibition presents as an exploration of relationships, specifically queer ones, and how we find otherness, likeness and kinship in their complexities. 

Part of the exhibition consists of several amorphous lamps Cherry made using found materials and coats of resin. From afar, the lamps appear pristinely refined, but up close their artifice of high design gives way to contours made by the push and pull of Cherry’s hand. At times elongated and at times bulbous, the lamps are reminiscent of the gestural materiality of Alina Szapocznikow’s sculptures (an artist who similarly played on the “other” to depict kinship). The curves and lines of each lamp casts a subdued glow that emanates throughout the exhibition and seems to echo the softness of the drawings that accompany them.

The walls of the gallery are hung with large, gesso covered panels marked with graphite. Cherry draws with fine strokes that capture movement in a way that echoes throughout the gallery room. Each drawing seems to capture a fleeting moment—glimmering ripples around someone floating topless in the water, the moment of a four-way kiss, dogs chasing one another in the hazy sun—moments frozen in a single scene that flickers across the mind. 

Though each scene is taken from memories recorded in Cherry’s journal, they’re hardly voyeuristic. Rather, these private moments appear inviting, as if we too have felt them, or someday could.     

James Cherry: “Fraternal”
On view through February 11, 2023
NOON Projects