Lucas Davidson searches for 'A Way In, A Way Out'

Dominik Mersch Gallery
Mar 6, 2019 2:24AM

Installation view 'A Way In, A Way Out', from left to right: ‘Skin Deep’, 'Soft Boundary' and 'From Nothing to Nothing', all works unique, 2019, pigment prints, 109 x 78 cm

In his latest exhibition, Lucas Davidson investigates the permeable nature of perception using processes that rely on both control and chance. ‘A Way In, A Way Out’ brings together six photographs and a site-specific installation to mark the artist’s fifth show at Dominik Mersch Gallery.

‘A Way In, A Way Out’ invites a slower kind of looking that requires viewer attention. This is prompted by the interplay between the fleeting and tangible aspects of the works.

The centerpiece for the exhibition, Field Study, is a work comprised of four-sided mirror boxes that are stacked on top of one another to form a complex spatial configuration. Using geometric shapes, repetition, and scale, Field Study challenges viewer perception with multiple perspectives occurring simultaneously.

‘Rise like Smoke’, 2019, pigment print, 109 x 78 cm, unique work

Foreground: ‘Field Study’, 2019, four-sided mirror boxes, dimensions variable; background: ‘Rise like Smoke’, 2019, pigment print, 109 x 78 cm, unique work

‘Field Study’ (detail), 2019, four-sided mirror boxes, dimensions variable

Accompanying this work is Davidson’s latest photographic series. Using a macro lens, Davidson takes close up shots of his body. These photographs are then scaled up, printed and soaked in water. Over time, the photographic emulsion separates from the paper base, transforming the static image into a malleable material where chance directs the outcome. For the first time, Davidson exhibits the unique objects themselves, showing the immediate outcome of this process and blurring the boundary between bodily and photographic surfaces.

To coincide with ‘A Way In, A Way Out’, Davidson will launch a limited edition self-published book that documents the working process of the photographic works in the lead up to the exhibition.

‘Invisible Centre’, 2019, pigment print, 109 x 78 cm, unique work

‘Ashes, Bones’, 2019, pigment print, 109 x 78 cm, unique work

Lucas Davidson artist book 'A Way In, A Way Out', 2019

Lucas Davidson artist book 'A Way In, A Way Out', 2019

Dominik Mersch Gallery