What if the cosmic plan didn’t exist?
What a mockery to live in exile that no one has imposed on you.
And exiled from a place that doesn’t exist.
What if the plan did exist but forever eluded you?
When religion fails, art remains.
You invent the plan, a metaphor for the unknowable.
A human conspiracy can also fill the void.

Umberto Eco

 

Gaga is pleased to present the first solo show of the artist Gill Hersom at the gallery. Titled Letual, the works denote his connection to fashion, where each piece is constructed as a three-dimensional object, offering multiple perspectives and angles of approach. The exhibition explores the conception of the star from various perspectives. Letual, is an adaptation to Spanish of the French word ‘étoile’ (star) and is inspired by the duality that stars represent: hope and the inevitable condition that all the stars we see are destined to extinguish.

We are living through a paradigm shift in our spirituality. After decades of a growing movement towards atheism, we now find ourselves in search of spirituality. As helpless victims of some universal error, we recognize that more traditional religions, such as Christianity, have disappointed us. We then seek refuge in more contemporary trends, in what is today considered a (misunderstood) New Age spirituality. At the same time, we are also rediscovering what was once considered profane – horoscopes, tarot cards, crystals, and metaphysics. It’s not that these practices didn’t exist before, but in past generations, they were immersed in a spirituality more bound by religious rules and less focused on personal development, both for oneself and for others. Today, however, we experience a spirituality that, while connecting with a community, is centered on the individual. We believe that with new technologies, we can move towards the best version of ourselves. This exhibition finds its inspiration in the stars, in the hope that, through their reading, we can understand our spiritual quest.

In this context, we find ourselves in front of a mythical character, a kind of spiritual guide who interprets the stars and reveals profound truths to us. The pieces arranged in this exhibition, in the form of an anthropological museum from a future post-apocalyptic era, revolve around this being who comes to teach us. We discover this spiritual guide wearing a turban made of French terry, a direct influence from streetwear. A plush toy that transforms into a staff, an object that has ancestrally represented the connection between the divine and the earth and often plays the role of a spiritual and protective guide on the journey. The necklaces here act as amulets to attract good luck, while animal teeth, deliberately modified for ornamental purposes, seek to transcend time. In this way, Hersom’s pieces become part of a museum that documents the presence of this being.

On the other hand, throughout the exhibition, we are constantly confronted with the figure of the star in the tarot, a symbol of those who are open to the enlightenment of the spirit. A symbol that inspires others and, therefore, serves a higher cause. In the book “The Way of Tarot,” Jodorowsky argues that reading the cards constitutes a bridge between two extremes, intuition and reason. It is intuition but structured to the maximum.

Starting from this premise, the various pieces that conform Letual can be seen as instruments that guide us towards the truth, amulets that are related to knowledge linked to emotions, perceptions, and hunches. In his text “Profanations,” Agamben argues that “sacrilegious” was any act that violated or infringed upon a special unavailability, reserved exclusively for celestial gods (in which case they were called “sacred”) or infernal (simply “religious”). Profaning, on the other hand, meant returning things to the free use of humans. Gill profanes and thus provides us with tools for everyone’s use. Combining music, textiles, and his own beliefs, the artist seeks to help us cope with a reality filled with overwhelming complexities of the present. In this way, the titles of each work provide a musical narrative that shapes this universe that encompasses reality, the present, and the future.

With an informal style, characterized by its rough and smooth edges simultaneously, Gill moves in the shadows and emerges at night, finding in the stars a constant reminder of our inevitable mortality.

Luisa Hernández

Installation
views

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Works

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Ishtar, 2023
Hand sew, suede, faux leather
20.87 x 24 x 3.94 in
53 x 61 x 10 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Jorge Trejo, 2023
French Terry on metal base
20.87 x 9.85 x 9.85 in 53 x 25 x 25 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Letual, 2023
Hand sew drawing with graphite, digitalized and printed on denim
10 x 47.72 x 1.38 in
25.5 x 108.5 x 3.5 cm each

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Es Verdad, 2023
Graphite drawing digitized and printed on suede with swarovskis application
23.43d x 1.97 in
59.5 d x 5 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Tarántula de This Mortal Coil, 2023
Hand sew, sheepskin fabric, rug, faux leather with swarovskis application
40.95 x 27.55 x 2.75 in
104 x 70 x 7 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
En colaboración con Jessica Zaragoza
Late Night de This Mortal Coil 1, 2023
Clay with rakú, hand sew cowhide, suede, steel
23.63 x 9.05 x .78 in
60 x 23 x 2 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
En colaboración con Jessica Zaragoza
Late Night de This Mortal Coil 2, 2023
Clay with rakú, hand sew cowhide, suede, steel
22.83 x 13.77 x .78 in
58 x 35 x 2 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
En colaboración con Jessica Zaragoza
Late Night de This Mortal Coil 3, 2023
Clay with rakú, hand sew cowhide, suede, steel
20.47 x 11.81 x .78 in
52 x 30 x 2 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
Oberkorn de Depeche Mode, 2023
Snow washed denim, hand and machine sew
44.88 x 24 x 3.93 in
114 x 61 x 10 cm

House of Gaga ❧ Letual
House of Gaga ❧ Letual

Gill Hersom
YouNg bRatz, 2023
Printing on DTF, cut faux leather
24.60 x 19.09 x 1.97 in
62.5 x 48.5 x 5 cm