Stephen Galloway • Solo Exhibition 2009
"Roots and Shrubs"
"Roots and Shrubs"
Artist’s Statement
After several years of examining the ground, the view straight down to the plane we stand on, the new works, Roots and Shrubs, penetrates that surface, seeing how life and lifespan include both sides of the membrane. Above the ground, the shrubs show us aspects of our reality, filled with light. Their detail depicts an individuality, a specific life. All that has passed is recorded in their form. Their roots take us down into the ground, the source of their sustenance. The roots are their foundation, but they also confirm the end of the life.
The penetration of the surface is the passing from this world to the next. The roots themselves live in a world that remains a mystery. While very much of our world, they are also mythic. They are wild. Their chaos is what we try and avoid as we order the world above the ground.
By moving the underground world above ground and flooding it with light, two things happen. The images bring clarity, the ability to see and be with the below-ground world. There is also a basic paradox, the re-placing of things against their function, their definition. In that paradox, the space of metaphor is opened up. That space of metaphor, however, is intertwined with the detail of actuality.
These examples of the living world are dead. They are dry, itchy, removed from their world of warmth and water. The work isn’t about death, non-being; it is about presence. These are not examples, they are singularities. They are present, held in light, existing in a space/non/space of their own. A space defined by their presence.
We are living in a space defined by our presence. We are also being defined by that space. We don’t know which comes first. We feel total change, like the change of death, yet tell stories to reposition ourselves in that space. Stories. Histories. Myths. These shrubs are individuals that reflect our own individual lives. Delicate, vulnerable. present.
Some Process notes.
These photographs are made using cameras and digital scanning technology in an effort to render the highest level of detail at this large scale. The plant forms are photographed in the studio, completely removed from their original context. These two techniques are combined in order to start the chain reaction of paradox. They are both of and out-of this world.
While inspired by the work of all the naturalists following Darwin, the attempt here is to transform the meaning of the plants’ presence. To create a metaphorical space between the plant and the viewer so that a new story or meaning can be conjured. To emphasize the quality of singularity over the ability to represent a larger group.
After several years of examining the ground, the view straight down to the plane we stand on, the new works, Roots and Shrubs, penetrates that surface, seeing how life and lifespan include both sides of the membrane. Above the ground, the shrubs show us aspects of our reality, filled with light. Their detail depicts an individuality, a specific life. All that has passed is recorded in their form. Their roots take us down into the ground, the source of their sustenance. The roots are their foundation, but they also confirm the end of the life.
The penetration of the surface is the passing from this world to the next. The roots themselves live in a world that remains a mystery. While very much of our world, they are also mythic. They are wild. Their chaos is what we try and avoid as we order the world above the ground.
By moving the underground world above ground and flooding it with light, two things happen. The images bring clarity, the ability to see and be with the below-ground world. There is also a basic paradox, the re-placing of things against their function, their definition. In that paradox, the space of metaphor is opened up. That space of metaphor, however, is intertwined with the detail of actuality.
These examples of the living world are dead. They are dry, itchy, removed from their world of warmth and water. The work isn’t about death, non-being; it is about presence. These are not examples, they are singularities. They are present, held in light, existing in a space/non/space of their own. A space defined by their presence.
We are living in a space defined by our presence. We are also being defined by that space. We don’t know which comes first. We feel total change, like the change of death, yet tell stories to reposition ourselves in that space. Stories. Histories. Myths. These shrubs are individuals that reflect our own individual lives. Delicate, vulnerable. present.
Some Process notes.
These photographs are made using cameras and digital scanning technology in an effort to render the highest level of detail at this large scale. The plant forms are photographed in the studio, completely removed from their original context. These two techniques are combined in order to start the chain reaction of paradox. They are both of and out-of this world.
While inspired by the work of all the naturalists following Darwin, the attempt here is to transform the meaning of the plants’ presence. To create a metaphorical space between the plant and the viewer so that a new story or meaning can be conjured. To emphasize the quality of singularity over the ability to represent a larger group.
