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Shonah Trescott's new exhibition 'Modern Landscapes' is inspired by her time living in NYC as a resident in a densely populated city. With this exhibition she explores the concept of 'landscape' through its associations of observation and exploration of national, regional, or local issues. Addressing several themes and clearly defining her roots in art history she flirts with the point of disintegration between attraction and figuration while infusing the landscape with the idea of time, travel, place or destination. The paintings and works on paper (postcards) are inspired by such works as Jan Brueghel's 'A woodland Road with travelers', a painting which reflects the mortality of all living things that results in their eventual return to the earth. As well as her obsessive interest in climate science and the current trajectory of the present US administration's view on environmental politics. On first glance these works may at first conjure walks in the countryside, as a break from city life, and the sheer pleasure of physical sensation: fresh air, daylight, wind, moisture, cold and warmth, colors, textures—all of which were seen as God’s creation, and, however immediate, of fundamental or universal significance is disappearing from the general populations daily existence but on a closer look the images are disintegrating such as in her Kyoto Protocol where the meaning on the environmental treaty is no longer legible. While the installation 400 Parts Per Million conjure an almost religious altar of miners spikes and candles, questioning our technocratic societies addiction to office fuels. Modern landscapes is a journey into our cultural attachment with the world around us. 2
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'Road 6', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
'Road 7', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
'Road 2', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
'Road 5', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
'Road 1', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
‘400PPM (Miners Spike)’, 2017, recycled plastic 3D printed, candle, 28 cm long
'Road 3', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
’Ode to Paris', 2017, paper, 118cm x 94cm
'Road 4', 2017, oil on dibond, 61cm x 40.5cm
’Kyoto Protocol’ number 9-32, 2015, silk screen on paper, 36 x 48 cm each
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‘Union Oil Company's Natural Color Scenes of the West’ number 1-168 2017, oil on 1940's postcard, 9 x 14cm each 5
OPEN ROAD In the USA and the world over the cultural status of roads, motorways and freeways is often hymned in romantic histories of poeticized culture of identity inseparable from the imagery and the meaning of a place, a point of departure, ones orientation or destination. Since time immemorial roads have been forged and trodden and have provided ways both treacherous and effortless for our species to explore, colonize, visit and tame to the farthest reaches of our planet. And today whole environments have been designed to enable safe and expedient travel for the 'human' element as our world is being transformed. But there's another journey taking place, a journey of our species into unknown territory of the 'Anthropocene' the age of man. The use of the term 'open road' or 'road ahead' is often representational with both seemingly insurmountable problems implying being more exposed to the weather and being far away from help if something goes wrong on the one side, while paradoxically on the other hand embodies the notion of a quest, a way forward to an antipodal state of peace and stability, a destination often referred to as 'over the horizon'. This new series of works looks at the genre of landscape painting as a subject in art which fundamentally came to rise with the urbanization of Europe where as much as 70% of the population lived in cities and towns rather than on the land. This shift was fueled further by the industrial revolution as populations were drawn to town and cities by the promise work and better livelihoods. Inspired by ShonahTrescott's time living in NYC as a resident in a densely populated city as well as well as her constant visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, here she plays with the idea of the road, passage, path and 'way' to infuse landscape with the idea of time, travel, place or destination. With this exhibition, Shonah Trescott continues to explore several themes and clearly defines her roots in art history – the figure in landscape and flirt with the point of disintegration between attraction and figuration.
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Rendered sometimes abstractly while flirting with clarity of figuration these imagers are inspired by such works as Jan Brueghel's 'A woodland Road with travelers', a painting which reflects the mortality of all living things that results in their eventual return to the earth. As well as her obsessive interest in climate science and the current trajectory of the current US administration's view on environmental politics. She explores landscape painting through its associations of observation and exploration to the national, regional, or local issues. While referencing the historical Dutch tradition of landscapes these works may at first conjure walks in the countryside, as a break from city life, and the sheer pleasure of physical sensation: fresh air, daylight, wind, moisture, cold and warmth, colors, textures—all of which were seen as God’s creation, and, however immediate, of fundamental or universal significance is disappearing from the general populations daily existence. Today over 2/3rds of the population live in urban environments. This massive shift is changing the way we perceive nature and we very way we exist as a species. Juxtaposing images of the latter idea of the Dutch tradition of landscape against the stark access road of the remote Maona Loa observatory in Hawaii where the most significant CO2 readings are being recorded, she addresses the idea of the road ahead, the way, and the journey through paint to a destination which in a Schrödinger sense is both known and unknown at the same time. Painted on brushed Aluminium Di-Bond which is a product developed for its durability, high strength, light weight capabilities and versatility for applications such as advertising and road signs. Shonah is looking at the material as if looking through a window partially obscured; glimpses at high speed of something familiar we may seek to find or of a memory lost in a slow and lingering backwards look. These works navigate through paint, in and out of focus, figuration and abstraction to a world simultaneously in both peace and flux, a world on a road to a destination unknown. 7
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400PPM (MINERS SPIKE) Since the industrial revolution, humans have been altering the natural process of the planet by adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere driving carbon dioxide levels higher and with it, global temperatures, along with a host of other climate change impacts. The carbon dioxide we’ve already committed to the atmosphere has considerably warmed the world since the dawn of the industrial revolution. This year, in addition to marking the start of our new 400 ppm world, is also set to be the hottest year on record. The planet has edged right up against the 1.5°C warming threshold which is a key metric in last year’s Paris climate agreement. Already we're seeing the deadly effects of climate change in the form of rising seas, monster storms, wildfires, and extreme weather of all kinds. Passing 400 ppm is an ominous sign of what may come next. The last time CO2 levels were this high, humans did not exist. Our dependency on fossil fuels is fundamentally changing the nature of the planet as we know it. During the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels seemed to be the ideal energy source. Not only was there a seemingly inexhaustible supply of coal available from easily exploited seams near the surface, but it could be used in its natural form. Coal became synonymous with the new era of industrialization. Our modern world literally rose out of copious amounts of this ancient fossil fuel on which we are still dependent today.
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During the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels seemed to be the ideal energy source. Not only was there a seemingly inexhaustible supply of coal available from easily exploited seams near the surface, but it could be used in its natural form. Coal became synonymous with the new era of industrialization. Our modern world literally rose out of copious amounts of this ancient fossil fuel on which we are still dependent today. Â Down in the coal pits light was essential for penetrating the absolute darkness as the men and often children toiled under unimaginable circumstances. As early as the 1800's forged metal candle holders with a loop handle, a thimble for holding a candle, a hook and a sharp point were used as a source of illumination. These candle holders were either hung on timber beams, driven by the spike into cracks of the mine walls or attached to the miners hats, burning stearic acid candles which as the popular choice of the time. The implement, made by the pit blacksmith, was a masterpiece of utilitarian design and is symbolic of an isolated, self sufficient, hard existence, endured by many, including some of shonah Trescott's ancestors, for hundreds of years. It has also been noted that the candle holder was used as a weapon when fights broke out in the pits and there are recorded cases of fatalities from the this implement.
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This new work by Shonah Trescott '400 PPM' calls into question our societies deep rooted attachment to fossil fuels and our almost religious attachment to the black matter of coal. Questioning our continued addiction to coal, the costs of the acts of our own species as we continue to release millions of years of carbon back into our atmosphere, our oceans and the very air we breathe. Created as a response to the current diabolical issues related to the continued exploitation of coal and the resulting environmental and political turmoil the world over. And closers to home reflects such issues as the Adani controversy threatening the Great Barrier Reef. Â These faux miners candle holders have been created by the method of 3D printing using recycled petrochemical plastic from discarded water bottles. Modeled from an original miners candle holder from the 1800's this edition of candle holders creates a dream like alter. A wall which has been illuminated/ burnt and now extinguished. Hung up for the final time as 'antique' relics of things past. However it could also be seen as in invitation to strike a match and illuminate the candles, almost as if in a place of worship where one might be invited into a state of prayer. The beeswax candles are a subtle jibe at our critical need to get off fossil fuels. To stop the 'burning', the burning which on so many levels is altering the way our planet reacts and how we operate in the world. It has been found that the high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are contributing factor to the huge colony collapse of bees. Bees which are crucial for pollinating up to 30-40% of our crops and 90% of our wild flora. This curved utilitarian implement of illumination is all at once romantic by candle light while paradoxically a weapon of harm.
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Install shot of candle holders
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KYOTO PROTOCOL “.... as viewers we see and sense this otherness in Trescott’s Kyoto Protocol silkscreen series, that intentionally defaces and disfigures the treaty’s wording. The artist obscures the document’s bureaucratically-ladened language code by printing over the text with an array of often-diffused, sooty gestural mark making that at times congeals to form readable imagery: vistas of mountains, smokestacks and bilious eruptions of smoke as well as people resting on park benches --- elements drawn from Trescott’s re-imagined childhood memories of growing in a coal mining town in a valley in New South Wales, Australia.” Dominique Nahas, New York Art Critic
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ODE TO PARIS Shonah Trescott's 'Ode to Paris' is a surreal poem created in the method by avant-garde Dadaist Tristan Tzara. Tzara, gave the following instructions on how “To make a Dadaist Poem” (1920): Take a newspaper. Take some scissors. Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem. Cut out the article. Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag. Shake gently. Next take out each cutting one after the other. Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag. The poem will resemble you. And there you are—an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.
Created after the announcement by Trump in the 'Rose Garden' that the USA will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the red text becomes a cloud of lost narrative, a rambling and incoherent stream or cloud of 'alternate facts' created from the very document whose aim was to unify the world.
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UNION OIL POSTCARDS Union Oil Company of California, now known as 'Unocal' is a company that was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States. The first gasoline-powered automobile had not yet appeared in the Western United States when the Union Oil Company of California was founded on Oct. 17, 1890. In about 1910, Union Oil made a strategic alliance with the Independent Producers Agency, a group of small oil producers, to build pipelines from the Kern County oil fields to Union Oil facilities on the Pacific coast. This gave the independent producers an alternative to what they perceived as the low prices paid by Standard Oil and the high freight rates charged by the railroads to move crude oil. It gave Union access to a large volume of crude oil. The situation was later fictionalized in the 2007 film 'There Will Be Blood'. The incredible wealth and power Union Oil made from this alliance saw them become a powerful lead oil producer of the early fossil fuel industry of the USA. By 1913, there were nearly 123,000 automobiles in California, prompting the company to open its first service station or "gas stand" on the corner of Sixth and Mateo streets in downtown Los Angeles. the company worked hard to keep up pace as the number of automobiles increased, By 1925, Union had more than 400 service stations on the West Coast. These gas stations were known as '76 GASOLINE’. Postcards as we are familiar with them today in a tourist sense, have taken a considerable amount of time to develop. First restricted by size, color, and other regulations, postcard production blossomed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Postcards were popular for their quick, easy, accessible and novel way to communicate. They carried with them a myth of the ideal place, a dream holiday or a particular status of the place visited and also held within them imagery and texts charged with the political ideology of day.
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Postcards as we are familiar with them today in a tourist sense, have taken a considerable amount of time to develop. First restricted by size, color, and other regulations, postcard production blossomed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Postcards were popular for their quick, easy, accessible and novel way to communicate. They carried with them a myth of the ideal place, a dream holiday or a particular status of the place visited and also held within them imagery and texts charged with the political ideology of day. Â In 1939 Union Oil produced the first of the modern photochrome postcards, a precursor of the 'generic' full color tourist style postcards we know today. These postcards of sweeping views of western United States were mass produced and given away at Union Oil gas stations to everyone purchasing gas between 1939 through the 1950's. The scenic landscape views pictured in full color became popular and loved souvenirs cleverly marketed by Union Oil to instill ones pride, identity, yearning and ownership of the great Western Landscapes. On the back of the postcards a slogan is printed in bold 'See the old West with 76 Gasoline' along with a brief and sugary description of the scene, telling a story of how we perceive the world around us while subconsciously condoning colonialism ownership of the landscape. Â Shonah Trescott collected the original Union Oil postcards from the 1940's/1950's and in sweeping and flickering brush marks re appropriates, obliterates and re-imagines these 'loved' scenes. Places which today are markedly changed by our human footprint and have largely been transformed by our technocratic societies dependency on fossil fuels. This series is a timely response to the critical period of a world out of balance. Modern landscapes which are being transformed at an unimaginable pace, and are now in further danger under the Trump administrations dismantling of the already relaxed environmental policies in the USA.
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2017 Modern Landscapes, DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY, Sydney, Australia 2016 Countenance of the Sky, Ando Gallery Tokyo, Japan 2015 Drawn into the light, exhibition by Osvaldo Budet and Shonah Trescott, Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico 2012 Drawn into the light, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar und Marine Research, Bremerhaven Koichi Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 2010 Mankind, Nature, Myth, Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan New Positions, Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany 2007 From the Studio, Spinnerei, Leipzig, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2006 Placement, Europe, Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia Leipzig, Mallorca, Tres Temps Galeria, Mallorca, Spain 170
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 Modern Landscapes, Kirow Werk in co-operation with Eigen+Art Leipzig, Germany 2016 Plastic Obsession, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany European Month of Photography, Gallery EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany 2014 Das Flussige Element, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Germany 2013 Works on Paper, Galerie EIGEN + ART , Berlin, Germany Missing Link, Momentum, Berlin, Germany 2011 Zwischen Film und Kunst, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany 2010 Labor, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin Groupshow, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig, Germany On this Island, Meeting and Parting, New Zealand, Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
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2009 Leipzig calling, New York Academy of Art, USA Hab und Gut, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany Labor, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany 2008 Fleurieu Biennale, Adelaide, Australia Australian Painting / Shonah Trescott and Euan MacLeod, Leipzig International Art Programme, Leipzig, Germany Leipzig / Travnik Partner Stadt Ausstellung, Cultural Centre of Travnik, Bosnia Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney, Australia Leipzig International Art Programme at Cavanacor Gallery, Cavanacor Gallery, Ireland 2007 The Year in the Arts, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2006 Sydney year in the Arts, S.H. Irvin gallery, Sydney, Australia Salon de RefusĂŠs, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2005 New Talent, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2004 Degree Show 2004, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
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www.dominikmerschgallery.com 173