Let’s Play Musical Chairs

The term “playing musical chairs” is not just a reference to a children’s game. It is also an apt metaphor for describing any activity where items or people are repeatedly and usually pointlessly shuffled among various locations or positions.

An exhibition on view now through September 4 at Keyes Gallery in Sag Harbor mirrors the format of the children’s game, but also highlights the uncertainty of our new reality.

Works in the exhibition are pulled from a multi-generational family collection (Penny McCall and her daughter Jennifer McSweeney). McCall collected from the early 1980s until her untimely death in 1999. McSweeney continues to collect to this day. Works in the collection include paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, video and sound.

For this version of musical chairs, chair sculptures created by artists Jean Blackburn, Willie Cole and Rita McBride are the centerpiece of the exhibition — spaced 6 feet apart, of course. Works of art implying the human figure surround the chairs acting as the “players.” Included in this group is an early and unique 1988 work by Mary Weatherford that is a striking profile of director Jean Luc Goddard with text.

The seminal 1995 video work, “Why I became a dancer” by Tracey Emin, is also included. Additionally, there is a signature work by Hassan Hajjaj (2008) revealing the intersection of fashion and the Muslim culture. And finally, there is a very early painting (1961) by Nancy Spero titled “NIGHTMARE FIGURES III.” This rarely seen series was last presented at P.S. 1 in 2019.

Artists whose work is on view in the exhibition include: Harry Jacques Arijac, Donald Baechler, Matthew Benedict, Jean Blackburn, Michael Byron, Buster Cleveland, Coco and Breezy, Willie Cole, Leslie Dill, Kim Dingle, Tracey Emin, Walton Ford, Judy Glantzman, Hassan Hajjaj, Mona Hatoum, Lori Hawkins, Charles LeDray, Paul Etienne Lincoln, Loretta Lux, Kurt Markus, Rita McBride, Blake Rayne, Thomas Ruff, Doris Salcedo, Lorna Simpson, Nancy Spero, Hugh Steers, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nicola Tyson, Not Vital, Kara Walker, Mary Weatherford, and Carrie Mae Weems.

The show is curated by Jennifer McSweeney and Megan Riley. Keyes Gallery is located at 45 Main Street, Sag Harbor.