NEIL BICKERTON
JOE CHEETHAM
JOSH FAUGHT
JAME ST FINDLAY
GEORGE PLATT LYNES
KATIE SHANNON
ALESSANDRO TEOLDI
‘190. What’s past is past. One could leave it as it is, too.
191. On the other hand, it must be admitted that there are aftereffects, impressions that linger after the external cause has been removed, or has removed itself. “If any one looks at the sun, he may retain the image in his eyes for several days,” Goethe wrote. “Boyle relates an image of ten years.” And who is to say this afterimage is not equally real? `indigo makes its stain not in the dyeing vat, but after the garment has been removed. It is the oxygen of the air that blues it.”‘
Nelson, Maggie. (2009) Bluets. London: Jonathan Cape.
Kendall Koppe is delighted to present The sun and the sun’s reflection including works by Neil Bickerton, Joe Cheetham, Josh Faught, Jame St Findlay, George Platt Lynes, Katie Shannon and Alessandro Teoldi. In the quietness of the opening of a new year, as we start to emerge through the darkness of winter we have found ourselves reflecting on ideas of longing. From this melancholy we find ourselves longing for a different time. For unspoken understanding. For time to ponder.
The urge to be in pursuit; desirous of a place – a person – a memory. Comforted by the force of our longing to either eclipse or preserve that which is longed for.
A remembrance of sorts… Remembrances that are more Elysian than those same realities. And we hope that our longing- even when it must remain unrequited- brings us closer to that which we long for.
Wanting is intrinsic to human nature.
We constantly find ourselves in pursuit of progress or something at the edge of our reach- our appetite for more, never sated. We are propelled onward by our desire to reach some distant and receding carrot of ‘enlightenment’ or ‘betterment’.
And so, with The sun and the sun’s reflection we seek a moment of stillness within this constant longing. Where we can see simultaneously the futility and the fruitfulness of this pursuit.
That which is, and was, and will.
To find beauty in this dichotomy of human experience and fortify ourselves for the Sisyphean task (whilst we imagine that Sisyphus was happy).