This exhibition takes its title from the first line of Anne Carson’s translation of a Sappho poem addressed to “deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind”. Sappho invokes the goddess’s poikilophron, though other versions of the text have it as poikilothron: the spangled thing is either Aphrodite’s mind (phron), or her chair (thron). Sappho’s writing has come down to us only in fragments. The blanks (......) are for us to fill in.

Poikilos, the adjective Carson translates as spangled, might mean many-colored, spotted, dappled, variegated, intricate, embroidered, inlaid, highly wrought, complicated, changeful, diverse, abstruse, ambiguous, or subtle. So variegated are the meanings of poikilophron/thron that this exhibition might also have been titled Abstruse chair, or, even more ambiguously, (......) adjective (......) noun. Similarly, the good thing about looking at an abstract painting is that, unlike reading, it’s very (......) adjective. The nice thing about looking at colors is that they make you feel like a (......) noun. The annoying thing about exhibition texts is that they are so(......) adjective. So we’ll do this one like a group show or Greek chorus.

The word spangled is most commonly applied to the American flag, which represents an association of different things: things in the shape of stars. To associate thoughts means to (......) verb them. When I close my eyes, I don’t see stars; I see (......) noun:proper, a (......) noun:concreteobject, and a (......) noun:abstractconcept. When I open my eyes, I might see rose (2024). Blue always reminds me of (......) noun. I remember (......) noun:person:pasttense. I remember the day I (......) verb:pasttense. And I blink slowly. Ideally, following the (......) verb:gerund:likelightonwater path of your thoughts will lead you away from a (......) noun. For example, in Untitled (2024), the (......) noun:plural:technicalterm (......) verb:disobedient from figure to something more (......) adjective:LewisCarroll.

Color is the only thing distinguishing an inside from a (......) noun, preventing them from forming one (......) noun:abstract, like the difference between a multicolored chair and a mind. So the idea of a (......) noun:abstract has always confused me: what is an abstract noun, anyways, and does the goddess Aphrodite count as an abstraction? I never realized that I look for (......) noun:plural in the (......) noun:plural:artifical when I walk. In my peripheral vision I (......) verb:discreet something like a shadow. At the border between sleep and waking I often come upon a (......) noun. In the corner of those dreams I sometimes see a (......) adjective:laughter shape.

It twists and (......) verb:patterned, it becomes a (......) noun; or perhaps it is a (......) noun:childhood, or perhaps it is a (......) adverb (......) verb:gerund (......) adjective (......) noun. A shape is merely a (......) noun:cross-stitch of which texture is an (......) adjective:cinema effect. A figure is always (......) adjective; a field is always (......) adjective. A painting should (......) verb and (......) verb us, like a (......) noun:animal, (......) noun:vegetable, or (......) noun:mineral. A colorful painting is a (......) noun. A painting is a (......) noun without (......) noun:plural. In the end, a painting is a (......) noun.

(Text by Olivia Kan-Sperling)