Tristan Pigott : Behind Tired Eyes

8 Oct-16 Dec 2020

Overview

'Behind Tired Eyes' is an exhibition of new work by London based artist, Tristan Pigott (b. 1990). The exhibition is presented at the gallery’s new Covent Garden space, 81a Endell Street, WC2H 9DX. In 'Behind Tired Eyes' Pigott creates a synthesis of painting and sculpture - a liminal landscape of two and three dimensionality which shines a spotlight on our straddled position between the real and virtual. The show explores Pigott’s preoccupation with what he refers to as “ocular fatigue” – a condition brought on by our constant vaulting between real and online existence. Mimicking a cut-copy-paste technique, Pigott has physically intercut hyper-realistic Vanitas still life and portrait paintings into large, impressionistic free standing murals of ‘screensaver’ waterfalls. With no clear indication as to where our eye might come to rest, Pigott reflects perception as a hybrid of experience. Adding to the sense of disorientation, Pigott has constructed a physical disruptor inside the gallery in the form of a fenced space. Between its steam bent wooden bars, other Vanitas still-life and portrait paintings find themselves ‘stuck’ - hung in a state of taut suspense. The fence is as much a vehicle through which to remove painting from its usual safe wall-based mount, as it is a symbol for borders and boundaries, both real and virtual.