Experts believe that there are 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. Yes, that is a real number. While the mathematics behind this conclusion is perplexing, society’s fascination with the cosmos should come as no surprise, as space has enraptured minds from our earliest ancestors to the scientists of today.
Galerie Templon is showcasing how contemporary art has also been influenced by the final frontier in a new group exhibition at its New York location. Cosmography, titled after the study of how researchers map the general features of the universe, will comprise of multi-media works probing into the intersection of mythology, history and mathematics. For French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso, he manipulates imagery from cinema and art history to create fictional scenes, such as Studies Into the Past (2019), which depicts several aristocratic travelers on horseback gazing at a luminescent aurora — subverting notions of time and space.
Whereas, Japanese performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota takes a more abstracted approach to showcase how humanity is intrinsically linked to the stars above through a pungent red watercolor composition showcasing a lone stick figure tied to a blob of red matter. “These artists explore a surrealist, cosmic vision of the future,” wrote Templon, “one that is ripe with personal histories and occasions for change. These metaphysical works contemplate our relationship to the intangible structures that bind our universe and equally suggest an internal, perhaps spiritual, study of the worlds within us.”
For those in New York City, the exhibition will be on view until August 1, 2024.
Galerie Templon
293 10th Ave,
New York, NY 10001
