Exit as Threshold: Escape, Rebirth, and the Space Between

What if leaving was more than the culmination of an experience, more than the goodbyes we say to one another? Perhaps each exit is actually a liminal space fueled by hope, liberation, and renewal. That is what the artists of Exit: Escape and Rebirth on view at A Space Gallery suggest in their multidisciplinary exploration of the topic. Beyond the literal act of leaving, the work of artists Ruoxi Hua, Chloë Walker, Chloe Abidi, Xiao Guo, Kailey Coppens, Mengru Zhou, Walker Keith Jernigan, Yichen Ji, Rene Gortat, and Soo Park investigate the moment of transition as a multidimensional experience. Here, uncertainty gives way to self-discovery, and clarity emerges from the turbulence of transformation.

The exhibition constructs a dialogue around the tension between confinement and freedom, acknowledging the weight of expectation while embracing the power of reinvention. Each work reflects a pursuit of possibility, an assertion that escape is not an act of retreat but an intentional step toward something new. The interplay of form, texture, and movement throughout the exhibition speaks to the complexity of these departures, where the familiar unravels and the unknown beckons with both risk and promise. Across the gallery, motifs of transition unfold in varied expressions, from sculpture to painting, textiles, and light. We are caught between worlds, landscapes dissolving into abstraction, and structures in flux reinforcing the idea that the process of leaving is neither singular nor linear.

“Homesick Alien” and “The Three Magi” by Ruoxi Hua embody the contradictions of departure and belonging, casting the act of leaving as both disorienting and revelatory. Fragmented cityscapes and glowing voids destabilize our sense of place, evoking the rupture between past and present, home and exile. In “The Three Magi”, discarded remnants of the everyday, in this case three toilets, are elevated to near-mystical status, blurring the lines between decay and transcendence. These works remind us that exits are not always clean breaks; they are layered, filled with echoes of what was left behind, and illuminated by the strange beauty of uncertainty. Whether sacred, surreal, or alien, we are confronted with an illuminated loneliness that disrupts our reality.

Yichen Ji’s “Replica.txt” speaks to a different kind of transition, one that unfolds in the intangible realm of digital identity. Composed of ASCII text drawn from personal chat histories, the work probes the ambiguity of the space between authenticity and ephemerality, where selfhood is constantly rewritten in the flux of online communication. The shifting nature of these digital traces underscores the fluidity of departure, not as a single event, but as an ongoing state of transformation. In a world where presence is often mediated by screens, Ji’s work asks whether we ever truly leave a space, or if we simply dissolve into new forms of being.

Through material and metaphor, the exhibition underscores the fragility and resilience embedded in moments of change. Shadows and light shift dynamically, evoking cycles of loss and renewal. Architectural elements suggest thresholds, doorways, windows, and portals that imply that every exit is also an entrance. The juxtaposition of materials and methods furthers the tension between grounding and release, between the weight of history and the pull of what lies ahead.

Embodying the act of the exit as a physical space of transition, through the tactile language of hand-dyed cotton, Xiao Guo’s “Passage 1” materializes the delicate tension between holding on and letting go. The exposed ends of the wefts and warps suggest unraveling, a loosening of structure that speaks to both vulnerability and release. Yet, the modularity of the panels asserts a quiet resilience, their ability to shift and adapt mirroring the cyclical nature of change. Like a threshold that invites passage, “Passage 1” is both a map of memory and a gesture toward the unknown, where the act of weaving becomes an embodiment of continuity despite rupture.

When leaving the gallery, we cannot help but question our own act of leaving, traversing our next liminal exit space. Exit: Escape and Rebirth becomes a forceful reminder that the cyclical nature of entering and exiting, destruction and renewal, is central to each of our lives beyond the gallery’s walls. We are now acutely aware of our own narratives of transition, armed with new perspectives that challenge the assumption that departure signifies an ending. Instead, exit is an act of agency, a conscious movement toward growth, reinvention, and the uncharted possibilities that follow.

Review by Shannon Permenter Image Credit: A Space Gallery, New York

Exhibition is currently on view at https://www.aspacegallery.net/

Shannon Permenter is a freelance writer and art historian based in Arizona. After completing her Masters in History & Theory of Contemporary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute she has channeled her passion for the arts into a career helping artists, curators, and nonprofits share their work with the world.