Bronze
Dimensions Variable, Miami, FL, 2025
A pithy sensibility of ersatz wonder permeates Liz Rodda’s exhibition, “Bronze,” at Dimensions Variable and reminds me of the pleasure I often obtain from chancing across a rainbow in an oily puddle of water. Dirty, trippy, a little bit sentimental. Humor, of the absurd variety, is also present, especially in Jacuzzi (2023), a video wherein a stationary camera records a jacuzzi running through its program of party lights and jet stream features for no one to enjoy. Added to the mix is a stained work-shirt the artist has provided as apparel for the video monitor, resulting in a combination that both humanizes the commodity and commodifies its bare-chested personality. To me, Jacuzzi has the comedic timing of a Steven Wright or Mitch Hedberg one-liner, the kind of joke that lands because of the space the comedian has left around it. Surrounding all of Rodda’s work is a body-shaped space the artist alludes to obliquely by way of fingerprints, smudges, flung shirts, or accessories, which is all perfectly fine with me. Because that space makes things interesting. — Max Tolleson