Perhaps the Truth

Perhaps the Truth is a group exhibition inspired by the writings of Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) and the painter and poet Jesse Murry (1948–1993). The works on view suggest that truth is not a fixed or absolute concept, but rather shaped by experiences and shifting perceptions. Exhibiting artists include Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, Jes Fan, Joel Gaitan, Florian Krewer, Rebecca Manson, Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Jesse Murry, Robert Nava, Ilana Savdie, Kiki Smith, Astrid Terrazas, Lucía Vidales, and Issy Wood.

The exhibition title comes directly from a line in Stevens’s long-form poem Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction: “Perhaps / The truth depends on a walk around a lake.” The act of walking around the lake, like the process of making and viewing work, leads to various interpretations of truths and helps us make sense of the world and our place within it. Influenced by Stevens’s poetry, Murry also believed in painting as a “supreme fiction”—through acts of disbelief and imagination can we save ourselves. 

The paintings and sculptures in Perhaps the Truth reveal expansive definitions of truths. Some create dreamscapes that are surreal, hallucinogenic spaces that transcend boundaries. Others look beyond our earthly imaginations to broaden notions of the self. Classifications of human, animal, and spirit are blurred. Gender binaries are dismantled. Biological, organic, and artificial life are merged. The exhibiting artists mine ancestral histories and folklore, to form new mythologies for the future. Many of the artists here use saturated color, rich textures, and varied materials creating visceral experiences. The works in the exhibition are imbued with a feeling of freedom and transformative capacities—a world free of fixed identities and singular experiences. Perhaps the Truth is in tribute to the spirit and legacy of both Stevens and Murry, whose works, like the works on view, are in the process of searching for what makes us who we are.

Perhaps the Truth is organized by Fairfax Dorn, Ballroom Marfa co-founder, with Daisy Nam, executive director and curator, and Alexann Susholtz, exhibition manager. 

Perhaps the Truth opening celebrations on October 6–7 kick off Ballroom Marfa’s 20th-year anniversary. The opening reception is Friday, October 6 from 7–10pm with a live performance from Dos Santos. Fairfax Dorn and Daisy Nam will lead a walkthrough on Saturday, October 7 at 12pm with poetry readings from Arden Wohl and Emmy Peréz. Events are free & open to all.

Ballroom Marfa celebrates twenty years of working with and presenting visionary artists in Marfa and beyond. The 2023–24 season features special exhibitions, programs, commissions, and an anniversary book published with Phaidon | Moncelli Press. Upcoming is Guadalupe Maravilla: Mariposa Relámpago, which opens at Ballroom Marfa on November 4, 2023.