Wall Drawing (Vesica Pisces)

Description:

Archie Barry’s performance Wall Drawing transformed the gallery into a site of resonance and inscription. Through lyrical hand movements, vocalizations, and the act of drawing directly onto the gallery wall with customized pencil press-on nails, Barry created a choreographed interplay of sound and gesture that privileged sensing over explanation. Two pre-recorded vocal tracks reverberated upward from speakers placed under the gallery floor, merging with Barry’s voice above to envelop the space in vibration.

The performance took inspiration from the life and writing of Reed Erickson (1917–1992)—an eccentric, influential, and unsettling figure in the history of trans organizing—and extended Barry’s project Dream for Reed (2025) on display in their solo exhibition Try Keeping an Open Channel. Together, these works imagined a trans ontology of disembodiment, exploring perceptions and sensations of being out-of-body through sound, movement, and mark-making.