‘Notes from the Fall’ was an exhibition of wall drawings at the Silver Spoon gallery, Balmain. The exhibition drew from psychoanalysis, theology and art history to explore ideas of falling and failure.
Black Tree was inspired by the Biblical story of the tree of knowledge and the fall of Man and draws from the art historical tradition of geometric abstraction, in particular the work of Kazimir Malevich.
Hans/Icare consists of two fragmented maps accompanied by passages of text, painted side by side on the gallery wall. The first map is of the Atlantic Ocean with Cape Cod, America on the left, the Azores in the middle and Groningen in the Netherlands on the right. The Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader drowned in the Atlantic attempting a solo crossing as part of a performance titled In Search of the Miraculous. Above the Atlantic Ocean is a Dutch poem written by Ader’s father. The second map is of Ancient Greece with the island of Crete at the bottom left. Delos, Paros, Samos, Lebinthos, Calymne and Icaria are all present as mentioned in Ovid’s recount of Icarus’ flight. Above the Icarian Sea there is an excerpt from Ovid’s description of the death of Icarus.
Valt – Manque is another wall drawing in two parts. The first drawing (Valt) is a timeline of the dispensations of mankind according to the Judaeo-Christian bible. It contains three periods, the Antediluvian Age (before the flood), the Present Age and the Age of Ages (end times). Within each age the periods of dispensation mark the manner of our relationship with God. Each period is also marked by the manner in which it ended. The second drawing (Manque) depicts the cycle of life from birth to death, marked by the stages of the lack and the death-instinct according to my interpretation of the theories of Lacan and Freud.
Tom Isaacs 