Intergalactic Romanticism. Fallible Earthlings

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There are over 200 billion suns in this galaxy, and it is estimated that every second one has a planetary system orbiting it. George Bolster examines the human position in this immense universe, using the discoveries of exoplanets and ancient galaxies as clues to re-interpreting our culture and place in the cosmos.

In Intergalactic Romanticism: Fallible Earthlings, Bolster fuses digital and physical painting with tapestry. Each work has multiple stages of discreet analogue and digital processes within it, including embroidery and manipulation of the image by unthreading, the result of his interaction with machines. Through this process, he attempts to create images of the as-yet impossible-to-see surface landscapes of planets outside our solar system. Bolster acknowledges the fallibility of our society and culture: “We need to not live through fiction, but embrace reality as a positive state for our survival.” As the artist embroiders in The Only Intelligent Life Found (2024), one of the tapestry on view, we are meaningless and meaningful. Humans are small and fallible but also absolutely extraordinary—it is necessary to cherish each life we have. Acceptance of this will ultimately help us to recognize and accept who we are.

 Astronomy as a scientific inquiry continuously distorts the idea of what humans really are and meant to be. Humankind is not necessarily central to the scheme of the universe. The Earth is actually in an insignificant part of the Milky Way Galaxy, which overturns our beliefs about our special place within it. Bolster’s work and perspective experiment grant this alternative view to see this landscape, shifting the focus of historical and political attentions. Many, of course, choose to live their lives based on fictional origin stories, believing they are destined to go to another world after death, while sitting on the precipice of long-term environmental and cultural disaster.