According to Webster, sleight of hand refers to a "skill with the hands so as to confuse those watching, as in doing magic tricks . . . ." The artists Holly Laws and Larimer Richards rely on such a device of "trickery or magic" to point to the deceptive and illusionary aspects of art that are never fully graspable, but rather implied. Holly Laws's installation LIMN is comprised of small, disembodied wooden legs decked out in elaborately crafted shoes that are at once amusing and disconcerting. Larimer Richards creates installations (videos projected onto objects and sculpture) which fool the eye and entertain the spirit.

Curated by Jo-Ann Conklin
image: Larimer Richards, Night Lite, 1997