Justin Matherly
Room to Live (2020) depicts an enlarged pair of interlocked hands, hollowed out and occupied by a life-size cat. The form of the handshake has long interested Matherly for its mutability, and the empty gesture is a recurring symbol in his work. Based on a Cycladic relief sculpture, the sculpture is part of a body of work inspired by Greek and Roman antiquity. The cat complicates and imparts a distinct strangeness to a symbol of trust.