LANDSCAPE / CITYSCAPE
Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio
December 9, 2022 – March 2023
Curated by Lisa Kurzner and Rose Berlingham
Participating Artists:
Herman Aguirre, Adrian Eisenhower, Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson, Liv Mette Larsen, Dana Oldfather, Lumin Wakoa, H Spencer Young
Exhibition Text
Abattoir is pleased to present a group exhibition of artists who look at landscape—both rural and urban—through a personal lens, reaching toward an inner landscape likened to a form of self-portraiture: “the weather inside.” Whether zeroing in on a particular segment of the visible world or inventing a place based on memory, these artists explore how the spiritual and psychological resonance of place reflects the soul of the maker. This concept was first articulated by artist Lori Ellison (1958–2015), who proposed a show titled “The Weather Inside.”
Works by H Spencer Young
Geometrodynamics #1 and #2, 2019
Diptych, chromogenic prints in artist framing
(composed entirely in-camera; no digital post-production)
Each panel: 41 × 34 in (104.1 × 86.4 cm)
Edition of 4 + 1 AP
Imaginary Time #1, 2013
Chromogenic print
(composed entirely in-camera; no digital post-production)
34 × 22.7 in (86.4 × 57.7 cm)
Edition of 4 + 1 AP
Artist Statement
These works explore the unseen structures and temporal complexities of our world through formal challenges to the photographic medium itself. Geometrodynamics #1 and #2 were composed entirely in-camera using a series of experimental techniques that stretch the boundaries of what photography can be while remaining fundamentally indexical. The title references theoretical models in physics that attempt to describe all universal forces in geometrical terms.
Imaginary Time #1 collages images taken in different U.S. states at different times, merged in-camera without post-production. Trees from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and the Empire State Building in New York are layered into a singular composition. The work’s title refers to a theoretical model of time in physics, where events occur simultaneously rather than sequentially.