Dimensions: support: 442 x 956 mm
Copyright: © Vija Celmins | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Vija Celmins' "Untitled (Desert-Galaxy)," a monochromatic work featuring two distinct panels. One depicts a star-filled galaxy, the other a barren desert. What sociopolitical commentary do you believe Celmins is making by pairing these seemingly disparate images? Curator: Celmins, working in a predominantly male art world, often subverted traditional landscape depictions. Here, she presents two seemingly infinite, yet desolate landscapes. This juxtaposition challenges romantic notions of both the sublime and the mundane, prompting us to consider the environmental impact of relentless expansion, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. It's about our footprint, isn’t it? Editor: I see. So, it's not just about representation, but a commentary on exploitation and scale? Curator: Precisely! Celmins invites us to contemplate our relationship with these vast spaces and the ethical implications of claiming them, whether it's land or cosmic territory. Editor: That's given me a lot to think about. Thank you. Curator: It’s been a pleasure. I'm glad we explored the deeper resonances in Celmins' work.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/celmins-untitled-desert-galaxy-ar00162
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Untitled (Desert–Galaxy) is a work on paper by the Latvian-born American artist Vija Celmins that presents two individual drawings side by side on the same sheet of paper: on the left is a galaxy in outer space and on the right is an image of a closely-cropped desert floor. The artist has used graphite pencil on an acrylic gesso ground for both drawings. These drawings – as is the case with the majority of the artist’s drawings, prints and paintings – are based on photographs rather than the direct observation of nature. The various subject matters of Celmins’s drawings of the late 1960s and 1970s include photographic images of oceans, deserts, lunar surfaces, cloud-filled skies and galaxies – all spaces of vastness and anonymity, isolated from direct human intervention. Celmins lived and worked in Venice Beach, California in the 1960s and 1970s after moving from Indianapolis to undertake a Masters degree in Fine Art at University of California Los Angeles. Untitled (Desert–Galaxy) is the earliest work by Celmins in ARTIST ROOMS. It was produced during a long period in which her practice was focused intently upon the medium of drawing, having abandoned painting in the mid-1960s only to return to it again in the early 1980s with a series of night sky oil paintings.
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