MATTHEW RONAY – POLYPASTORALINE
2019-08-12The title is an invented word and reflects the main idea of the exhibition. Polypastoraline is constructed of (poly-) many + (pastoral) relating to rural life + (-ine) denoting of or pertaining to. Since antiquity, the theme of the Pastorale has been used in poetry, music, and art to evoke a place or state of mind that embodies the rapture of an undisturbed, peaceful landscape. From the frescoes of Pompeii, to the classical strains of Beethoven’s symphonies and the idealized landscapes of Claude and Poussin, the pastoral subject was used to evoke harmony, reverie and serenity. Over time, as the natural world has become increasingly soiled by human intervention, the ethos expressed by the pastorale has aquired darker connotations, where dismay and a sense of loss loom large over the demise of bucolic sanctity. And given the increasingly rapid pace of toxic climate change, the emergence of new paradigms for thematizing nature is inevitable.
Opposite – Temple Bell, 2019
Exhibition runs through to October 19th, 2019
NILS STÆRK
Glentevej 49
2400 Copenhagen
Denmark
