Codes of the West: Kenneth Tam at the Queens Museum

A solemn tone prevails as one walks through a slim corridor into the dimmed exhibition space of “Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes” (on view at the Queens Museum, New York, through June 23). The Stranger (two step), 2021—an armature supporting Wrangler jeans, a leather belt, and cowboy boots, with a dark-brown saddle in place of torso and head—appears to guard the installation with masculine self-seriousness.
Inside the gallery, two large screens standing at an angle on the floo