Cloud Studies, 2022–23

 

For a pdf of the series, click here.

From the early nineteenth century onwards the desire to record clouds accurately—whether in the name of art or science or faith; war or beauty or truth—promoted rapid advances in representational techniques more broadly. Eternal and fleeting, the sky remains a realm of wonder and confusion. It is an emblem of freedom, a site of conflict, and a source of dread.

The works here seek to contain some of these contradictions, while rejoicing in their escape, in their excess. Although fixed in materially stable sheets of aluminium, the images dissolve into new forms with every fluctuation of light, every flicker of cloud between sun and earth.The historical cloudscapes are animated by those of today; the weather of once upon a time conflated with that of now. The past and the present fail to fit, pointing to a broader instability, a darker sense of change.