Tosh Basco: Angels, Hand Dances and Prayers
Company Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo show by Tosh Basco in New York City, titled Angels, Hand Dances and Prayers.
The exhibition is comprised of new works-on-paper which provide a glimpse into the prolific body of work accompanying Basco鈥檚 remarkable oeuvre of performance over the past decade. The drawings are grouped into the categories the title of the show suggests. A pair of 鈥楢ngels鈥 hold the space of the gallery, providing a sense of grounding and other-worldly presence. Imprinted in a bruised blue, these 鈥楢ngels鈥 hover above two plinths which double as symbolic stages for their suspended flights. 鈥楬and Dances鈥 flank the room in shimmering copper and red silica gestures. And finally a series of black and white graphite 鈥楶rayers鈥 form a faceless but fervent congregation.
Angels, Hand Dances and Prayers hints at the more impenetrable dimensions of Basco鈥檚 practice, inviting an intimacy that often evades live performance. A common theme underlying these haunting imprints is a preoccupation with the unseen which is particularly poignant given the hyper-visibility accrued by Basco as her former public persona boychild. And in a period when our experience of touch and the erotic is evolving, Basco鈥檚 commitment to embodiment in extremis can feel deeply entwined with a longing to be out-of-body. In her own words, 鈥淭he hand dances are a way for me to extend my improvisational performance practice beyond physical form. Death echoes in the desire to move beyond the body and what鈥檚 left are the resonances of a fragility and violence that shroud notions of what 鈥榖ody鈥 is.鈥
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Company Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo show by Tosh Basco in New York City, titled Angels, Hand Dances and Prayers.
The exhibition is comprised of new works-on-paper which provide a glimpse into the prolific body of work accompanying Basco鈥檚 remarkable oeuvre of performance over the past decade. The drawings are grouped into the categories the title of the show suggests. A pair of 鈥楢ngels鈥 hold the space of the gallery, providing a sense of grounding and other-worldly presence. Imprinted in a bruised blue, these 鈥楢ngels鈥 hover above two plinths which double as symbolic stages for their suspended flights. 鈥楬and Dances鈥 flank the room in shimmering copper and red silica gestures. And finally a series of black and white graphite 鈥楶rayers鈥 form a faceless but fervent congregation.
Angels, Hand Dances and Prayers hints at the more impenetrable dimensions of Basco鈥檚 practice, inviting an intimacy that often evades live performance. A common theme underlying these haunting imprints is a preoccupation with the unseen which is particularly poignant given the hyper-visibility accrued by Basco as her former public persona boychild. And in a period when our experience of touch and the erotic is evolving, Basco鈥檚 commitment to embodiment in extremis can feel deeply entwined with a longing to be out-of-body. In her own words, 鈥淭he hand dances are a way for me to extend my improvisational performance practice beyond physical form. Death echoes in the desire to move beyond the body and what鈥檚 left are the resonances of a fragility and violence that shroud notions of what 鈥榖ody鈥 is.鈥
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