Exhibition

When the Dark is Light Enough - Justin Robertson

5 Mar 2020 – 11 Mar 2020

Regular hours

Thursday
11:00 – 23:00
Friday
11:00 – 23:00
Saturday
11:00 – 23:00
Sunday
11:00 – 23:00
Monday
11:00 – 23:00
Tuesday
11:00 – 23:00
Wednesday
11:00 – 23:00

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The Union

London
England, United Kingdom

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An exploration into the secret lives of objects

About

When the dark is light enough examines the structure of hidden fragments that hide in the things around us and discusses how, due to our faulty human perspective, we are often mistaken as to their nature. Even the things we create, like paintings, can have layers of meaning that escape us, once created they take on a life of their own, becoming infinitely mysterious even to their creator. Using a variety of mediums including painting, photography and UV printing techniques, the work imagines the world from the perspective of the object, with the human subject being only a peripheral element. Humans are seen only briefly, cast as acolytes or struggling particles trying to grasp their place in the confusion. The secret worlds of brush strokes and paint blobs are explored, the orbits of planets are examined, the unending process of decay and becoming is frozen and captured on film or imagined in paint. 

Reality flows relentlessly around us, a continually evolving swarm of fragments and relations, which we try in vain to grasp hold of as the torrent tumbles past. The process of universe of has no need for humanity; our petty concepts and anthropomorphic categories are just slithers of the whole. Sometimes reality offers us a tantalising glimpse into its manifold complexity, but we are just too limited and faulty to really understand it fully. So we try to deny its existence by making reality reliant on our dubious patronage. ‘To be is to be perceived’, but the universe goes on, and the objects in it will maintain their mystery even when the observer crumbles to dust. 

What really goes on on the dark side of the atom?  What orphic blooms flourish in the electron’s wake? What comfort can we take from the acceptance of our own limited capacities? What joy can we find now our insignificance has been revealed? Well, we can always imagine. We can dream of finding a way into reality’s mysterious flow. What lies in the heart of the objects around us, what really goes on when our back is turned? What if those objects were to give up their mysteries, to reveal those parts so carefully hidden from us? This collection imagines what we might find if we drifted on a different axis away from the human pivot and into the secret life of things. Occult dimensions beckon!

About the artist

Justin Robertson is an acclaimed DJ, musician, artist, writer and broadcaster. After studying philosophy at The University of Manchester, he quickly became a leading DJ in the nascent acid house scene and a highly sought-after remixer for Erasure, New Order, Bryan Ferry & Bjork amongst many others and his band Lionrock soon hit the charts and festival stages. He continues to make music and DJ around the world, whilst producing two charting topping radio shows for Soho Radio “The Temple of Wonders” and “The Rotating Institute”.  His writing and interviews with the likes of Rob Newman and Gary Lachman have been published in Ransom Note and The Guardian. This is his seventh collection of art having previously exhibited around England, Ibiza, Ireland and Sweden. 

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