Oren Pinhassi presents ‘non-binary’ sculptures at London’s Edel Assanti gallery
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

The Israeli artist Oren Pinhassi has created sculptures around the world. Whenever he has an exhibition abroad, he doesn’t ship pieces from his studio in East Harlem. Instead, he goes to the country of the exhibition and spends a chunk of time toiling away in the new environment, forming and moulding each and every piece anew. It’s his way of grounding his pieces in their geographical context and exploring the ways in the local environment shapes the way he works.
For his latest show, at Edel Assanti gallery in London’s Fitzrovia, he spent a month in Suffolk creating objects that appear to be familiar archetypes – a palm tree, a chair, or a towel, for example. However, a moment’s concentration transforms them into something completely different. One realises that the palm tree is actually made from steel umbrellas of varying sizes, stacked in a blooming formation; the chair resembles a reclining woman with protruding, misshapen breasts; the towel is grotesquely coiled like a snake. It is this ambiguity and perpetual sense of becoming that Pinhassi exploits, as suggested by the exhibition’s title, ‘Second Nature’.
There’s a palpable erotic energy, with a pair of glass-fronted urinals facing each other, and the palm tree pieces suggestively titled ‘One in the mouth and one in the heart’. A pair of freestanding pavilions, meanwhile are partially lined with glass panels that have been meticulously smeared with swirls of Vaseline, walking a fine line between privacy and voyeurism. Pinhassi embraces the sexual element of his work, though he insists that its ‘queerness’ comes not from these connotations alone. Rather, he stands for a rejection of traditional boundaries: in architecture, in nature, and in the body.
‘I seek to break down binary categories,’ he declares. Interestingly, much of his earlier work featured ‘a lot of wood, and right angles’ – and it was a frustration with the rigidity of the material that drove him to explore the shapeshifting potential of plaster, sand and burlap, which feature prominently in this exhibition.
While there are readymade elements in Pinhassi’s work – the skeletal structures of children’s umbrellas, for instance are used to form the palm trees – there is also ample evidence of the human hand on their primordially rugged surfaces. He calls his sculpting process one of ‘repetitive touch’ – working away at the plaster with his hands a little at a time – no two objects he creates are ever exactly the same. It is this dance between familiarity and ambiguity that informs Pinhassi’s artisanal approach.
Within the ground-level space of the gallery, Pinhassi’s sculptures are carefully placed to guide viewers through a ‘forest’ of nebulous forms. Ultimately, it’s the visitor’s reaction that interests him most, and what this says about the relationship between one’s physical environment and one’s behaviour. ‘I want to see how people instinctually use this space to execute my choreography.’
Urinal (London 1) and Urinal (London 2), glass, steel, plaster, burlap, sand and pigment. Photography: Studio Will Amlot. Courtesy of Edel Assanti
Flanked by two smaller sculptures that nod to towelling, ‘One in the hand and one in the heart’ has a steel frame comprising the skeletal structures of readymade umbrellas, overlaid with plaster, sand and burlap. Photography: Studio Will Amlot. Courtesy of Edel Assanti
INFORMATION
‘Oren Pinhassi: Second Nature’ is on view until 15 August. For more information, visit the Edel Assanti website (opens in new tab)
ADDRESS
Edel Assanti
74A Newman Street
London W1T 3DB
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
-
Hermès perfume Un Jardin à Cythère is a cinematic exploration of a Greek garden
With Un Jardin à Cythère, Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel recreates the sensations of crunchy grass, watery pistachios, and windswept olive trees
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Exploration, travel, adventure: the lowdown on Herno’s S/S 2023 collection
A closer look at Herno’s latest collection, which riffs on the brand’s heritage with a new fashion-focused lens
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Constance Guisset makes her Fuorisalone debut with a scenographic design party
Salone del Mobile 2023: ‘Surprise Party! Carte Blanche à Constance Guisset Studio’ (17 April – 13May 2023) is the first Milanese solo show of the French designer
By Maria Cristina Didero • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Ai Weiwei's largest-ever Lego artwork revealed at London’s Design Museum
At London’s Design Museum, Ai Weiwei has unveiled Water Lilies #1, a new Lego recreation of Claude Monet’s iconic painting. We explore the vast new work ahead of the Chinese artist’s major show at the museum, opening on 7 April 2023
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Desert X 2023 is a staggering sculpture extravaganza spanning California’s Coachella Valley
Will Jennings travels to the Coachella Valley to explore outdoor sculpture exhibition Desert X 2023, which sees projects balance impact, subtlety, and unapologetic enormity
By Will Jennings • Published
-
London show celebrates the male physique in photography, from muscle hunks to scruffy punks
‘A Hard Man is Good to Find!’ – newly open at London’s Photographers’ Gallery – is a delectable survey of queer photographs of the male body created in London between the 1930s and early 1990s
By Benoit Loiseau • Published
-
Eric van Hove brings Morocco to Mayfair in a sculpture exhibition at Connolly
At Connolly in London’s Mayfair, Eric van Hove’s ‘Fenduq’ sees British poise collide with the raw grace of Moroccan creativity
By Flora Vesterberg • Published
-
Inside Shoreditch Arts Club: east London’s new hub for cultural and culinary delights
Shoreditch Arts Club, opening on 7 March, is a new private members' club set within the landmark Tea Building that aims to evoke ‘the curiosity of an avid art collector’s home’
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Mike Nelson at Hayward Gallery: a dystopian thriller that’s impossible to forget
We review Mike Nelson’s epic survey show ‘Extinction Beckons’ at Hayward Gallery, London, a monumental exhibition filled with dark humour, unsettling encounters, and modernist dreams lost to capitalism
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published