Tether

Tom Down - A Far Sunset

The Wasp Room is pleased to announce ‘A Far Sunset’: the first solo exhibition by Tom Down. The exhibition is open from March 26th – April 11th, Thursday – Sunday, with a private view on March 24th, 6-8pm. There will be a talk by the artist on April 1st, from 7pm.

Uniting previous threads of his artistic practice, Tom Down has chosen to transform the gallery into a quasi-archival space. Utilising and displaying a collection of diverse images, objects and text, where distinctions between the found and the constructed are continually blurred. These individual elements span a broad range of references from heraldry and history painting to sci-fi illustration. Through the use of these established genres, his work pertains to romantic notions of conquest and exploration, presenting an ultimately futile attempt to regain a certain lost spirit that those embody.

The work revels in these fantastic ideals, whilst naggingly reminding us these are yet to be realised, so obviously showing us what we want that it points more to the absent than the represented. Even the title of the show, appropriated from an Edmund Cooper novel, continually alludes to something that can be seen but never reached.

Constantly aware of the futility of the attempt, these elements are unified by a characteristic use of materials, an obsessive, hobbyist-like enthusiasm that permeates through the work. This approach tests the artist to his limits, in an effort to convince himself that the ideals he explores are still worthwhile, still valid.

For more information, visit tether.org.uk or download the press release.