every stone tethered to sleep/ every presence wedded to stone

Kenneth Lo’s solo exhibition at Southern Exposure transforms the central gallery space into a graveyard with neat rows of flat cement plaques memorializing Facebook conversations between the artist and his friends. Far from tongue and cheek, these interactions range from everyday updates and observations to more introspective meditations on time and death. The sculptures, which resemble grave markers, transcend the obvious humor inherent in creating timeless memorials to casual conversations held in a quasi-public online space. In a theme that repeats itself throughout the exhibition, the plaques are a sincere, if disproportionately serious, investigation of how the artist has spent his time on this earth.

A key aspect of memorial monuments is brevity: they can commemorate an epic battle with little more than a simple line drawing, or they can sum up an entire lifetime of achievements with “Loving Father.” So what, then, can be made of an artist using a room full of heavy stone memorials to commemorate a life that is, by Lo’s own admission, largely unextraordinary?

Consider the two stand-alone works that anchor the exhibition: a full-size tombstone, inscribed with the artist’s exhibition résumé, and a wall-mounted cement plaque that contains a chronological (and annotated) list of romantic rejections. Each of these pieces embodies a sense of critical self-reflection that is central to Lo’s work. They also underscore the morbid humor that comes from treating the evolving chronicle of actions that define a living person as a series of immutable lists. These works are not only presented as the final record of Lo’s artistic achievements, romantic encounters, and online relationships, but they also present the artist as having had a life worthy of over a dozen large stone monuments.

Everything is Nothing/ Nothing is Everything, 2010; Granite; 31 x 24.5 x 12 in. Courtesy of the Artist and Southern Exposure, San Francisco. Photo: Cesar Rubio.

This sense of visual hyperbole is perhaps Lo’s greatest strength as an artist. The exhibition is simultaneously self-aggrandizing and self-effacing, as Lo takes personal introspection to the point of absurdity. In this way, Lo brings together the comedic and the funereal to produce a body of work that is both humorously self-deprecating and heartbreakingly sincere.

every stone tethered to sleep/ every presence wedded to stone is on view at Southern Exposure, in San Francisco, through February 19, 2011.

David Huff is a curator and writer based in Oakland.