Big Legs Don't Cry, 2005
Single-channel video installation, silent
One 45-inch (or larger) 16:9 format LCD monitor and wall mount, one DVD player and one DVD (color; silent)
Dimensions variable (45-inch monitor: 25 ½ h. x 43 w. inches [65 x 109 cm.])
Edition of five and one artist’s proof
Although related to the earlier series entitled Liminal Objects (1995 – 98), in which specific iconic pairs of black-and-white, computer-generated animated objects continuously pass through one another via their shared geometries in virtual space, the works in this recent series (which include Big Legs Don’t Cry, 2005; Attention, 2005; Church and State, 2005; and Spoonful, 2005) are rendered in color and created specifically for a wide-screen format, flat-panel 45-inch (or larger) LCD screen. These works involve objects that, in a sense, violate each other’s borders in unpredictable ways, with the repetitive interaction and circular logic of their movement suggesting different readings of these veritable micro-scenes. Hinting at elements of symbology, they are “objects on the threshold of being something other than objects, ‘animated’ in a sense deeper and stranger than the technical.”
In Big Legs Don’t Cry, a pair of legs, visible only from the knee down and clothed in a brown business suit and dress shoes, stand on an open book. The pages of the book pass through the pair of legs, flipping and turning as if caught in a light fluctuating breeze.
Frieze Art Fair / Donald Young Gallery, London, England, October 21 – 24, 2005.
Art Basel Miami Art Fair / Donald Young Gallery, Miami, Florida, December 1 – 4, 2005.
“Kairotic,” The Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt, January 8 – February 8, 2006.
“Gary Hill,” Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, February 17 – April 15, 2006.
The Armory Show / Donald Young Gallery, New York, New York, March 9 – 13, 2006.
“Stories,” Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 8 – August 11, 2006.
“The Grand Promenade,” EMST - National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece, July 17 – September 29, 2006.
“Tuttolibri,” Galleria Milano, Milan, Italy, December 12, 2006 – February 10, 2007.
James Harris Gallery, Seattle, Washington, April 3 – May 10, 2008.
“Art of Limina: Gary Hill,” Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 21 – May 1, 2009.
“The Contemporary Figure,” Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, January 23 – February 20, 2010.
“Gary Hill – Patrick Tosani,” Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany, January 14 – February 19, 2011.
Beijing Media Art Biennale, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China, September 25 — October 9, 2016
"Gary Hill: Momentombs," Suwon Art Museum, Suwon, Korea, November 26, 2019 — March 6, 2020.
Yood, James. “Gary Hill / Donald Young Gallery.” ArtForum (Summer 2006), pp. 358 – 359.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, pp. 569, 570, 572, 575.
Ramos, María Elena. Gary Hill. Caracas: Centro Cultural Chacao, 2009 (in Spanish), pp. 10, 18 – 19.