In Pari Delicto / Leo Castelli Gallery
These photographs poke fun at poking fun. Where on the postmodern continuum does this put them? I think it’s too late at night for this sort of academic nitpicking. They’re good. Sarcastic-bourgeois with a touch of erotic-nasty, Kingsley’s snark at the trappings of upper-class life manifests itself not just through juxtapositions meant to evoke ennui, but in a further step meant to express ennui at ennui, almost to the extent of getting back to being enthusiastic about the original subject matter. Almost. Silver chalices and equestrian motifs boost the cinematic snob quotient of these domestic tableaux. In Night Ramble (2008), a single white-gloved hand holding a burning cigarette floats in darkness near a magnolia flower; Not Your Friend (2008), a sort of daytime twin image, finds a languid, black-gloved hand bending over hydrangeas. Each has a curious, almost grotesque punctum that saves it from being a glib depiction of discontent; in the former, the accumulating ash tip is perversely long, becoming an unexpected visual irritant and glory-stealer. In the latter, the glove is skinlike in texture, inserting a fetishistic element into a narrative of disgust. Every single one of these images seems to harbour this type of unexpected twist, and almost each time that twist is different.
T.J. Carlin, Art Review Magazine, April 2009, p. 95