Katie Herzog at Klowden Mann

On view: January 18–February 22

In the middle of Katie Herzog’s exhibition, Yankee Candle, a slumped voting booth made of soft canvas looks like an unassuming stuffed toy. The piece, Voting Booth Soft Sculpture, sets up the thesis of the exhibition: democracy is falling apart. The John Birch Society, an early alt-right organization, published a set of ideological texts called One Dozen Candles in the 1960s, and distributed them to libraries across America. Herzog reproduces each cover across a long gallery wall. Each title becomes literal material, as each is made up of thrift store candles that Herzog bolts into place—a kind of crucifixion. Elsewhere, Herzog reproduces a monochrome version of one of George Bush’s paintings (you know that one of him in the shower?). Throughout, Herzog picks and pulls at our American socio-political tapestry. By simply presenting it back to us, she calls it into question.