Golden Spike
A ‘golden spike’ is a signifier of extreme environmental and/or climatic change—a tipping point—in the geologic record. In Golden Spike Beavers, Gray, and Van Beckum explore the concept of the Anthropocene—specifically, the landscape as evidence of the human epoch—via proxies and models of landscape that are situated in the past, present, near future, and distant future. This three-person exhibition incorporates multiple media that access time and scale via distinct matrices of art historical and environmental contexts.
In Golden Spike desire is a pathway for considering the inherently contradictory relationship between humans and our environments. We simultaneously consume aesthetic beauty from landscapes, while treating them as sites of extraction and destruction. The work then disorients our relationship to the environment and landscape. Through painting, photography, and sculptural installation, the artists co-opt image, orientation, and perspective, asking the viewer to consider landscape as the keeper of deep time, environmental histories, and prospective futures.
Three-person exhibition with Allison Grey and William Van Beckum
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