IAN KIMMERLY: AS WE WANTER, WE ARE CLOSER
Dolby Chadwick Gallery, 210 Post Street, Suite 205, San Francisco
December 8, 2016 – January 28, 2017
The painting As We Wander, We Are Closer (2016) features an image of a couple with their faces pressed closely to each other. Although the nature of their relationship is unknown, their pose is one of undeniable intimacy. Exploring the effects of seriality, Kimmerly repeats this images three times at different scales, divesting the private moment of any overt preciousness. The changes in scale create a sense of depth and motion, as if the image were flying toward you—an ephemeral bit of data hurtling along the information superhighway. While digital blips in the form of abstract gestures can be seen as obscuring various parts of their faces, it is also possible to read this “noise” as being dispersed as part of a larger process of revelation and formation: for all their weaknesses, digital technologies also harbor great potential. Because their presence in our lives impacts how we view ourselves, our relationships, and our world, they should, in theory, prompt us to reconsider how we want to live our lives. Such shifts in gaze are played upon in Twofold (2016), in which primarily white and peach-toned paints have been dragged horizontally across the eyes of three figures. Several short, dark strokes, however, have been applied on top of the lighter colors, as if transposed eyes, viewing the world not only from a new angle but also through a different lens.
