_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}

THOUSANDS OF LIGHT YEARS FROM HERE – JONATHAN SULLAM
Irène Laub Gallery – Brussels
January 11 – February 02, 2019

Visual artist Jonathan Sullam resorts to ever-changing moods and genres by advocating a protean-based body of work. Over time he has developed a visual language using paradoxical approaches when apprehending objects. These tend to convey an emotional scape through conflicting interpretations of the referential usage or status. Jonathan Sullam‘s artworks all reveal a state of precarious equilibrium: they seek to capture the tensions preceding a fall or an ascent. Installations, sculptures and images all appear to be suspended in time and space.

_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}

The artworks on display involve two assessments of space. The first falls within the remit of immediate sensations and shaping of materials, such as folding, curving and cutting through them. It determines the spatial dimension, the space taken up by an element. The second is understood as a coating aspect, defined with spray paint, surface cleansing and polishing and refers to depth of surface and time spent. These two gestural assessments bond together the physical experience and the representation of the surrounding space and time.

_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}

Time and space are essential elements to grasp the crystallized or suspended appeal of the artworks ranging from organic forms to smooth, industrial, inanimate objects devoid of any trace or gesture. Through layers of paint and varnish, the artworks attempt to go beyond classic monochromes, using immersion and absorption within the work to bring depth and space to a unified surface. Reflecting long-held underlying preoccupations in Jonathan Sullam‘s practice, the structures are spatial sculptures, yet they significantly refer to painting.

_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}

The exhibited sculptures also contain a cosmological aspect, looking towards the sky and horizon. The title “Thousands of light years from here” is a hyperbole, underlining the distance taken from the spatial ‘here and now‘, understood as Earth. In an Euclidian dimension seeking an exterior point of reference, it is here a way of turning one’s back to our world and outwardly readjusting one’s gaze.

more. www.irenelaubgallery.com

_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}

_{Image courtesy of Irène Laub Gallery}