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Human Drift
Sebastian Thomas
2nd – 9th January 2010. inclusive
Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm.
Art Jericho, 6 King Street, Oxford, OX2 6DF
This is a closed door exhibition.
Previously working in large sculpture and installation, Sebastian Thomas will be adopting the Model Makers scale of 1/72 for his exhibition at art Jericho, creating a collection of small scenes to be inspected and scrutinised by the viewer. Fascinated by the Model Makers’ desire to meticulously reconstruct images of the past, poring over individual details, Thomas will investigate this compulsion through his individual miniature scenarios.
A number of important themes run through Human Drift, but ultimately, Thomas comments on the temporality of current society, a world in which we are compelled to better ourselves, using new technologies as a conduit to demonstrate proof of success but showing disregard for our position in relation to the natural world we are placed within. Thomas suggests that we only assess these advancements circumspectly, noting that,
‘This blind acceptance of new technology represses many of the fundamental aspects of what I believe it is to be human and could have a potentially negative psychological, sociological and environmental impact in the future.’
Presenting a series of ‘floating’ islands, Thomas will create an imagined future, disrupting traditional model making techniques by fusing them with his concerns for society’s relation to new technologies, consumer obsession and our detachment from the fundamental elements of life. At once playful, and nightmarish, Human Drift brings the viewer’s attention to the contradiction of a society striving for utopian ideals and the reality of what the future might hold.
Consumed by excess, as so many of us are at this time of year, this timely exhibition raises questions about the way that one relates to the world around us, and the relevance and function that the objects that we surround ourselves with, and strive towards owning and accumulating, actually serve.
The public are invited to attend the closing party of Human Drift on Saturday 9th December where there will be the opportunity to meet with the artist and launch collaborative.
