ARK
ARK delves into human reckoning with the immense scale and timescales of the
universe and the influence that has on the deeply small and personal. In A View,
10 000 Years Apart and The Black And Stupifying Sea, Rat has presented two
triptychs exploding with layered imagery. A View looks at the scope of our sight,
exponentially expanded by our gigantic glittering eyes looking out from space.
They have crowded the canvas with orbital paths of notable missions, each
seeing further than before . The sky is fractured and turned on its axis, in some
parts mirrored. The two sides of the mirrored view are 10 000 years apart, where
some things change and some things stay the same, like the clouds, the blue,
the eroding horizon and us.
The Black And Stupifying Sea is marred by eruptions and the blast of a leaving
entity, clad on either side by a figure retrieving his pornography from the pile of
straw he hides it within. These figures are like Sibyls, prophetesses, holding and
imparting knowledge. They're heads are replaced with diagrams, one a
schematic describing the likelihood of life in the universe, the other of a nuclear
warhead achieving fusion. The centre is inhabited by house like objects, which
reference the seemingly ultimate form of human existence, drifting aimlessly in
generation ships, destructively jettisoning off the Earth, now itself exhausted as a
vessel.
The space is visited by celestial bodies, two velvet space rocks. They have taken
on a personified form, messengers from unknown distances and times, who pass
us by. Some join us, Messengers #2 referencing the Murchison meteorite which
hit Australia in 1969 and offered tantalising hints at its potentially life generating
force. The Fabric Of The Universe paintings imagine the future of the ships and
asteroids alike, travelling forever, though the houses join them in ulyimately being
nothing more than a lost space rock.
Documentation from the solo exhibition at Gaffa Gallery in 2022 by Campbell Henderson.
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The Black And Stupefying Sea
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester filling, 2022
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The Black And Stupefying Sea (detail)
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester stuffing
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A View 10,000 Years Apart
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester stuffing, 2022
universe and the influence that has on the deeply small and personal. In A View,
10 000 Years Apart and The Black And Stupifying Sea, Rat has presented two
triptychs exploding with layered imagery. A View looks at the scope of our sight,
exponentially expanded by our gigantic glittering eyes looking out from space.
They have crowded the canvas with orbital paths of notable missions, each
seeing further than before . The sky is fractured and turned on its axis, in some
parts mirrored. The two sides of the mirrored view are 10 000 years apart, where
some things change and some things stay the same, like the clouds, the blue,
the eroding horizon and us.
The Black And Stupifying Sea is marred by eruptions and the blast of a leaving
entity, clad on either side by a figure retrieving his pornography from the pile of
straw he hides it within. These figures are like Sibyls, prophetesses, holding and
imparting knowledge. They're heads are replaced with diagrams, one a
schematic describing the likelihood of life in the universe, the other of a nuclear
warhead achieving fusion. The centre is inhabited by house like objects, which
reference the seemingly ultimate form of human existence, drifting aimlessly in
generation ships, destructively jettisoning off the Earth, now itself exhausted as a
vessel.
The space is visited by celestial bodies, two velvet space rocks. They have taken
on a personified form, messengers from unknown distances and times, who pass
us by. Some join us, Messengers #2 referencing the Murchison meteorite which
hit Australia in 1969 and offered tantalising hints at its potentially life generating
force. The Fabric Of The Universe paintings imagine the future of the ships and
asteroids alike, travelling forever, though the houses join them in ulyimately being
nothing more than a lost space rock.
Documentation from the solo exhibition at Gaffa Gallery in 2022 by Campbell Henderson.
The Black And Stupefying Sea
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester filling, 2022
The Black And Stupefying Sea (detail)
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester stuffing
A View 10,000 Years Apart
Oil and fringing on canvas with polyester stuffing, 2022
The Messenger #1
Velvet, faux fur and beads with polyester stuffing, 2022
Velvet, faux fur and beads with polyester stuffing, 2022
The Messenger #2
Velvet, cardboard, polyester stuffing and expanding foam, 2022
Velvet, cardboard, polyester stuffing and expanding foam, 2022
The Fabric Of The Universe #1
Acrylic and gouache on canvas, foam and paper, 2022
Acrylic and gouache on canvas, foam and paper, 2022
The Fabric Of The Universe #2
Acrylic and gouache on canvas, foam and paper, 2022
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Installation view of ARK
Acrylic and gouache on canvas, foam and paper, 2022
Installation view of ARK