A hybrid of painting, sculpture, process, and performance, Kevin Beasley’s monumental, rhythmic, and profoundly haunting “ghost” work, "If I was standing alone I wouldn’t stand it all," explores the physical pressure of things that are deeply felt, yet invisible. To create this work the artist dipped several house dresses, similar to those his grandmother wore, in resin and manipulated them into sculptural form. This was an intense, physically demanding process, as the resin remains malleable for only about half an hour. The result bears the traces of the cycles of use and disuse, the artist’s body, and the process of its own creation. Both ominous and graceful, these “ghost” figures appear to have arisen from another place and time; sounds seem to emanate. By absenting presence, Beasley raises questions about the possibility of escape from the dangers of subjection and its loaded cultural and historical references. In his multidisciplinary practice the artist explores connections between personal memory, lived experience, and broader issues of power, sexuality, gender, and race in urban America. Kevin Beasley, American, born 1985, "If I was standing alone I wouldn't stand it at all," 2017, House dresses, kaftans, t-shirts, du-rags, resin, 99 3/4 × 53 × 33 in. (253.4 × 134.6 × 83.8 cm), Purchased with funds provided by the Brown Foundation, Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund, 2018.1, © Kevin Beasley, Image Courtesy Casey Kaplan Gallery, Photography by Jean Vong #thingstodoinsanantonio #SAMA #artmuseum #sanantonio #do210 #downtownsanantonio #sculpture #contemporaryart