**George Rouy: In Dirty Water at J Hammond Projects, installation view.**

With soft bodies contorted and long limbs impossibly tangled, some of the figures appear to be either embracing, dancing or wrestling. These acts are primal: a means of attracting or engaging a partner. The poses are carefully constructed to demonstrate strength while betraying a vulnerability. Like the feeling of descending very slowly, totally naked, into cold water. That’s what I wanted to capture with this body of work: a sense of something both empowering and exposing. Facial expressions are deliberately ambiguous. They could be interpreted as gormless or submissive, but I see the figures as nihilistic. They stare out into the eyes of the viewer, their viciously twisted necks suggest something is broken outside of the image. The same is true of Bull and White Horse. These animals are typically symbolic of heroism and fertility, but their necks are flung back, subverting their power.

-Geroge Rouy (artist statement about the show)