The Roof

The precariousness yet simplicity of the black and white video ‘Roof’ shows Nares encased at the neck by a swinging wooden plank that seems to whip his unseen body over the edge of a roof. By employing an illusionist trick with his camera, Nares’ seemingly disembodied head drifts eerily through lower Manhattan. Nares conjoins the materiality and performativity of his body, his sculptures and the concreteness of his New York neighborhood. "There’s something sort of menacing about them," Nares said, looking back on these near-forgotten works in an interview several years ago: "An element of danger is probably the best word for it. Something I courted. It seems to make everything more real." (Ed Halter, excerpt from a review in the ‘Village Voice’ 13. 5. 2008)