Jerico Contemporary is delighted to present our first solo exhibition with Australian artist Tom Keukenmeester, 'There Were Many Edens' in collaboration with Art Incubator, from Thursday 13th of May to Saturday 5th June 2021.
Referencing art history and narratives both personal and imagined, 'There Were Many Edens' explores a utopian environment liberated from the boundaries of time and place. Originally conceived around the biblical Garden of Eden and the notion of a beginning of time, Keukenmeester began to explore the many ancient religions that believed in paradise gardens of abundance and sanctuary. Informed by his readings and research, Keukenmeester came to instill his own imagination and imagery into these narratives. Bringing together the mediums of European portrait style oil painting and hand-built ceramic sculpture, the interplay between two and three dimensional forms sees Keukenmeester offer a unique perspective. The exhibition sees the artist create his own dreamlike world free from modern constructs and complexities, existing before civilisation, or perhaps, in a postlapsarian space where contemporary comforts have been stripped.
Comprising six paintings and seven ceramics, the works in 'There Were Many Edens' occupy a place that exists somewhere between past, present and future; merging the ancient and the contemporary. Hybrids of human and animal forms, the figures are drawn from things both real and imagined, reflecting the artist’s interest in evolution and its unknown possibilities.
Some are closely inspired by art historical references, like the paintings of Spanish artist Francisco Goya, who was known for his satirical comments on superstitious beliefs and spotlighting the realities of war. Keukenmeester draws from Goya’s painting ‘Witches' Sabbath’, 1798, which depicts the devil manifested as a large male goat encircled by a group of witches in a moonlit barren landscape. “I wanted to create a duality of something a little scary looking but also beautifully adorned...,” explains Keukenmeester of his works ‘Goat After Goya’, 2021 and ‘Seated Goat Figure’, 2021, which reinterpret fragments of the monstrous, abject themes of ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ in vivid colour; where flowers have appeared in the absence of evil. ‘Boys Climbing a Tree’, 1791 - 1792 is another of Goya’s works that informed Keukenmeester’s ‘Beating Out The Clouds’, 2021 where instead of three bandaged and sickly boys playing together, three adventurous creatures climb to the top of a mountain high above the clouds.