Submitted by mmefineart on
Karen Tompkins - Speed of Light
MME Fine Art is pleased to announce Speed of Light, an exhibition of new work by artist Karen Tompkins. This will be Tompkins’ second exhibition with the gallery. A press preview with the artist will take place on Thursday, June 11 from 10am to noon. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, June 11, from 6 to 8pm and will include a view of the night sky via telescope.
With her new series, Speed of Light artist Karen Tompkins explores the underlying architecture of the cosmos with its vast scale and infinite patterns. Tompkins describes the speed of light as, “the light that engages us and moves us through space and time. At a velocity of 180,000 miles per second, it is a trail of beauty, from the microscopic light of dendrites in the brain, to flashes of light on water and on to the far reaches of the universe in filaments of glowing galaxy clusters.”
With her new series, Speed of Light artist Karen Tompkins explores the underlying architecture of the cosmos with its vast scale and infinite patterns. Tompkins describes the speed of light as, “the light that engages us and moves us through space and time. At a velocity of 180,000 miles per second, it is a trail of beauty, from the microscopic light of dendrites in the brain, to flashes of light on water and on to the far reaches of the universe in filaments of glowing galaxy clusters.”
“An awe of nature and the universe, moves me to investigate the luminous objects whose light fills the night sky,” says Tompkins. Her work references the 110 luminous objects of deep space catalogued by astronomer, Charles Messier as the subjects of her series. In 1771, Messier, a comet hunter, was frustrated by objects which resembled, but were not comets, so he compiled a list of them, to avoid wasting time on them. These lights, swirling and blazing through space, are known today to be galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. Revealed with piercing points of light in this dazzling series of paintings, Tompkins evokes the mystery and complexity of nature, that inspired the 19th century, artists Frederic Church and Thomas Cole as well as contemporary artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Tomas Saraceno.
“We are all made of the "star stuff" that composes the universe and binds us to the ecstatic pulse of nature. These works reflect the complexity of an infinite cosmos in which everything is connected,” says Tompkins. With Speed of Light, Tompkins depicts the universe from the micro to the macro scale in an intricate play of light and form.
Tompkins has participated in over forty solo and group exhibitions during the course of her lengthy career. She studied painting and drawing at the Academy of Fine Art in Rome and at the Pratt Institute Graduate School in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is included in numerous private, corporate and museum collections.
