Arguments about true human nature are a cornerstone of the Western philosophical canon. Optimists like John Locke believed life before governmental rule was a magnanimous paradise, while pessimists like Thomas Hobbes believed life before a ruler was “nasty, brutish, and short.” Washington-based miniaturist Abigail Goldman leans begrudgingly towards the latter. Her latest solo exhibition, State of Nature with Hashimoto Contemporary, explores the brutal impulses typically suppressed in everyday life on a 1:87 scale. Goldman uses her bloody miniature dieoramas not to shock but to present complex and seemingly absurd narratives of human compulsions that bubble below the surface.
Beyond the usual empty fields or rocky cliff sides, Goldman’s newest narratives of humans in their brutish natural state occur inside picturesque homes, fine dining restaurants, and even Buckingham Palace. Figures no larger than a pinky-fingernail spill and ooze blood, consume human flesh, and execute their houseguests among pleasant interiors. Perhaps due to their size or the elements of surprise, the gory incidents are laced with dark humor. There’s always something funny about elderly women in their Sunday finest breaking from expected composure. Goldman imagines these images of ordinary, respectable people lashing out or giving into their urges as cathartic—it’s something you didn’t know you needed until you had it.
While the exhibition’s title refers to a time before human governance, Goldman clarifies that there are governing forces similar to ours in these miniature worlds. “We’re generally polite. We stand in line. We signal to turn,” she writes. “We mostly follow the rules. But we’re fraying at the edges and a certain kind of madness is setting in. If people find any truth in my work, perhaps it’s seeing subterranean feelings suddenly come to the surface.” Goldman’s work is brutally honest about taboo violent fantasies buried under social contracts. With charm and remarkable craftsmanship, the artist invites us to wonder about our own actions without state rule and underscores our choices when the world is foregone into chaos.
State of Nature opens Saturday, August 10th, with a reception from 6-8 pm.
