Third Nature : Copeland Gallery, London
In his new series of paintings ‘Third Nature’, Tomas Harker confronts the overlooked surrealism of contemporary life in which commonplace objects and devices are intermeshed with the untouched natural world. These are made from collages of images from varied sources, with often conflicting semiotic value systems. Sources include film screenshots, art history, iPhone photos and social media. Sources are collected for their metaphorical,symbolic or formal relationships. The subjects in this exhibition often refer to illusion. The renderings often elicit ambivalence and foreboding, or the sense that things are not as they seem.
Painting is a slowed down approach to images, both in the making but also in the meditation on what’s behind the image. In a time of hyperreal saturation within contemporary image consumption, Harker interrupts this pace and invites us to explore the nature of meaning in conditions of increasingly mediated experience. By reinterpreting histories and finding new associations that resist didactic interpretation, he invites a non-linear and subjective reading.
Opening Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 11 -5pm.
Truths Written With The Help Of Figures
Essay written to accompany The Exhibition 'Third Nature' by Jon Sharples
Third Nature. Written by Tomas Harker
THIRD NATURE
A solo show by Tomas Harker presented by bo.lee gallery
3 - 7 November 2021
Press View: Tuesday 2 November 4 - 6pm
Private View: Tuesday 2 November 6 - 8pm
Copeland Gallery
Unit 9I, Copeland Park, Peckham, London SE15 4UJ
In his new series of paintings ‘Third Nature’, Tomas Harker confronts the overlooked surrealism of contemporary life in which commonplace objects and devices are intermeshed with the untouched natural world. These are made from collages of images from varied sources, with often conflicting semiotic value systems. Sources include film screenshots, art history, iPhone photos and social media. Sources are collected for their metaphorical,symbolic or formal relationships. The subjects in this exhibition often refer to illusion. Examples can be seen in the shapes formed in the leaves, refractions in water, crops obscuring the original context, and images mediated on another surface like a tablecloth or side of a van.
The paint is applied in a direct and tactile way. Whilst remaining pictorial, the substance of the medium is brought to the fore. The paintings perform in the same physical way as the subject they represent. They have the feel of the real things they signify, the muddy water, reptilian scales, and translucent leaves; but simultaneously a record of the gesture. The renderings often elicit ambivalence and foreboding, or the sense that things are not as they seem.
Painting is a slowed down approach to images, both in the making but also in the meditation on what’s behind the image. In a time of hyperreal saturation within contemporary image consumption, Harker interrupts this pace and invites us to explore the nature of meaning in conditions of increasingly mediated experience. By reinterpreting histories and finding new associations that resist didactic interpretation, he invites a non-linear and subjective reading.
Harker graduated from his MA at the the Royal College of Art in 2020, was awarded the Ingram Collection Purchase Prize in 2018 and was selected to exhibit a solo show alongside the permanent collection at Lightbox, Woking. Tomas Harker lives and works in London.
Contact Jemma@bo-lee.co.uk for further information, images and details.