NYAB Event - Erik Sommer "And Riding Clouds"

Erik Sommer "And Riding Clouds"

Rooster Gallery

This event has ended.

Continuing his exploration of material, Erik Sommer’s (b.1978) “And Riding Clouds” features the artist’s recent experiments with cement since his last solo exhibition at Rooster in 2010.

In “And Riding Clouds,” Sommer furthers his unconventional approach to painting by presenting his first cement installation, “Apt. 4B,” in the downstairs gallery. Using found objects collected throughout New York City, Sommer has recreated the living room of an apartment. Although the functionality of the found objects remains intact, Sommer has emptied them of comfort by covering them with cement, inevitably depriving the space of human presence.

Behind this candid look at an apartment’s interior, there is a deeper reflection on nostalgia, loneliness and the impermanence of society. The somber environment, where everyday living can no longer occur, suggests a still-life painting. While challenging the boundaries of the genre by breaking the traditional two-dimensional barrier, Sommer questions life, love and beauty through the crystallization of time.

The physical discomfort that arises when experiencing “Apt. 4B” is further enhanced by psychological unrest: the man-made concretion of time is no more than a process intended to disrupt time’s own logic, thus obliging the viewer to exist in memory’s domain. This suspended existence guides the viewer to his own “Apt. 4B,” where memories still retain an idealized, undamaged purity.

Upstairs in the main gallery, Sommer presents several of his new cement paintings. This work, which represents a different use of concrete as compared with the installation, takes on a lighter, more airy feel. Now in his 8th year of painting with cement, Sommer further manipulates the material to create pieces that are heavy and ugly, yet delicate and soft. In contrast with the installation, this work tends to float, riding upon clouds through a clear blue sky.

One cannot help but wonder, however, whether this apparent optimism might be purposely naïve, or even deceitful, after “Apt. 4B” has been subliminally introduced into the mind.

“Brass shines with constant usage, a beautiful dress needs wearing,
Leave a house empty, it rots.”
– Ovid, The Erotic Poems