Under the Bridge N Miami — 12425 NE 13th Ave, North Miami, Florida 33161 Kerry Phillips’ precarious and slightly dreary constructions, now on view at

Lou Anne Colodny‘s Under the Bridge, Alternative Space in North Miami,

stand out for their delicate stance between balance and chaos, tension

and calm…even conditioned response and visceral panic.

Seemingly fragile, somehow vulnerable junk: old buttons and coverlets, dead furniture and bric-a-brac apparently from a deceased grandmother’s home…things that served for at least a lifetime…, but no longer do….all gathered and hobbled together into a jumbled, hoped for, but nearly impossible order.

Surrounded by Detritus (and it’s cousin Hubris), we seem to survive…day by day… struggling to find space for new solutions (and objects), cleaner,

clearer ones…to replace old shopworn ideas and systems…

Renewal calls for making sense of the past and moving on; for recognizing which old things , old ways, no longer serve…and possibly, which ones need to be kept.

Maybe that’s why Phillips’ constructions stand out: The references to sentiment don’ t seem important as is sometimes the case with junk sculpture..neither is this junk just repellent garbage: More like old stuff that was useful and worthy; but now seems Past Due.

These careful compositions bear a soulful personal energy that whispers compassion; that implies a respect for the logic and legitimacy of the old ways of generations past, while never denying it’s obsolescence….Maybe the keyword is RESPECT, since that seems in such short supply in these

angry days.

These Constructions, with their fragile sense of harmony, seem to mitigate collective struggles in harshly transitional times..at best in ways that transcend differences and instead reinforce shared traditions and communality.

On view til early January. Under the Bridge N Miami — 12425 NE 13th Ave, North Miami, Florida 33138

David Rohn

Miami FL,USA