There’s something about seeing a neon sign in daylight: The usual associations with seedy nightlife or unbridled consumerism are swept away by an otherworldly glow of light upon light. It can feel almost religious in the right context. That glow illuminates parts of Low-slung Promises on the Tongues of the Devout, EJ Hill’s solo exhibition at 52 Walker. Without irony, Hill draws on his Catholic upbringing to cultivate a secular spirituality and a space for healing and hope.The show comprises paintings, church kneelers and mixed-media works constructed from them, and two neon pieces, but the centerpiece is the artist himself. Hill is present every day during the gallery’s opening hours, kneeling in silent reverence within a large curtained area in the main space.Installation view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Promises on the Tongues of the Devout at 52 Walker, New York (courtesy 52 Walker, New York)Upon first glance, Hill’s inspiration for the artworks appears to be less his childhood Catholicism than the agnostic faith of modern art: The first neon work on view is a tall, white rectangle flanked on each side by square “paintings” of multicolored vertical stripes that are actually composed of the kneelers’ cushions with indentations from the artist’s knees. A long wooden church pew faces the wall. All together, they invoke modernism’s sacred or quasi-sacred spaces, from the Rothko Chapel to a James Turrell installation. On its own, the idea of artworks made from ecclesiastical objects evoking modernism within a white-cube gallery feels a little too on the nose, at once enamored of its predecessors and self-evident. And several colorful paintings depicting clouds and flowers can come across as too cute in their naivete; Hill displayed similar works in 2022 at OxyArts in Los Angeles, where they were tasked with carrying perhaps too much of the show’s weight. The difference here is his actual presence. It’s understated — he can be glimpsed through a sliver in the crimson curtains, and he might not register at first if you’re not already aware he’s there. Viewers can enter the curtained area a few feet behind Hill, where a more elaborate neon work — a white Ionic column with a blue cloud attached — is installed on the wall. Installation view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Promises on the Tongues of the Devout at 52 Walker (photo Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic) From there, Hill is seen from the back, kneeling in a prayer stance. He is unmistakably the show’s emotional center, his quietude making everything else feel more profound. Yet this is, after all, a gallery, not a chapel, which doesn’t lessen the gravity of his devotion as much as situate it in a lineage of performance art. Durational and other endurance performances are already charged with religious undercurrents — artists both give of themselves as the art and suffer for it. This scenario casts the artist somewhere between creator and symbol. Unlike a White artist like Chris Burden (think of his modern-day crucifixion, “Trans-Fixed,” from 1974), Hill’s performance as a Black artist is layered with the additional dynamic of the pressure to “perform” identity for the predominantly White gaze within the blue-chip space.As part of a whole, the artworks gain meaning that’s sometimes lost individually. In conversation with those physical objects, Hill’s performance cuts through potential cynicism or preciousness and proffers a sense of solace — at least that was my takeaway. Durational performances don’t require devotional themes to feel spiritual, but by interweaving them, Hill seems to be inviting anyone who enters the show to share in his gesture of faith. In other words, here, spirituality is not a pose, but an offering. EJ Hill, (left) “Receivers” and (right) “And in This Corner” (both 2025) (photo Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)Installation view of EJ Hill: Low-slung Promises on the Tongues of the Devout at 52 Walker, New York (courtesy 52 Walker, New York)EJ Hill, “Vigil (for the anchors)” (2025) (photo Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)EJ Hill, “Symbol for a Stylite” (2025) (photo Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)EJ Hill: Low-slung Promises on the Tongues of the Devout continues at 52 Walker (52 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan) through September 13. The exhibition was curated by Ebony L. Haynes.