It’s a hot summer day in the southern part of Italy. Clouds blow by; the thermostat glows red at its tip. The horizon shakes unevenly, like a bleak, overexposed line. It hurts to focus your eyes on it. In the dryness and the sweltering heat you recognize the objects around you only by their outlines, which repeat themselves beyond your view. NO MELON NO LEMON is the supreme palindrome. It is dry wood in the shape of olive trees, dark burnt earth around them. No citrus fruits, no water vessel in sight—just the echo of the shapes. NO MELON NO LEMON is the repeating sound in your head as you read the same meaning backwards and forwards.

Gladstone Gallery is pleased to present Claudia Comte’s first U.S. solo exhibition. The Swiss artist will create a site-specific environment comprising paintings and chainsaw-cut sculptures. Each work functions as part of a modular system of intricately connected elements. Arranged in a rhythmic, mathematical manner, they become an immersive space where forms repeat in delirious, self-referencing patterns.