Coco Hall · Winter 2026
Opening Reception
January 31, 2026 | 6–10PM
On View
Through March 29, 2026
Compound YV is pleased to present Coco Hall’s solo exhibition, The Heart is an Organ of Fire.
Coco Hall is a sculptor and toy designer who visually interprets what she observes in our wonderful, horrible world. As a consequence of the soft materials she uses, her work has a toy-like appeal even when confronting difficult and serious subject matter, inviting viewers into the darkly wry humor innate to our species.
This body of work addresses the demise of nature, particularly by way of fire. Coco’s lifelong appreciation of nature began at age 7 when she attended a summer day camp and learned to build a one-match fire for the first time. Overnight camp in the woods of northern Ontario ignited her love for cooking over a campfire and sleeping outside; canoe trips into the depths of the wilderness were the highlight of her childhood.
She read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a foundational work of environmentalism, in high school. By the early ‘90s she was an environmental activist, steering one of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ships in the Caribbean. She was not alone back then in her knowledge that humans weren’t going to save the earth, but it was nonetheless important to do whatever could be done. However, she never imagined that what we now know as climate change would happen so soon, so fast.
The Heart is an Organ of Fire spans over ten years of work, envisioning both the precarious potential for and the horrific aftermath of fire, all of which find various formats within the context of the show. There are the incendiary gas cans rendered in various materials, from faux fur to velvet to organza; a trio of actual pants on fire entitled “Triple Wildfire;” plush candelabras; and a series of ceramic “Burning Houses.” In addition, the show includes various ceramic and papier-mâché ashtrays and cigarettes, referencing the human appetite for fire in spite of its destructive nature. And not only humans’ — there is a sculpture, titled “Moth in Flames,” which pokes fun at the proverbial moth drawn to a flame. It has apparently burst into them.
Accompanying the show’s seeming darkness—and, at times, its silliness—are variously sized caryatids: female figures embedded in white pillars, as if members of a Greek chorus or guards standing watch on either side of a fireplace, if momentarily at rest. They observe everything, silently commenting on our actions, forced to bear the weight of the mantle as our fire rages on.
Coco lives in Joshua Tree, California, and recently held a featured exhibition at BoxoPROJECTS’ Joshua Treenial 2025.
