ENTROPICAL PARADISE

TRISTRAM LANSDOWNE

FROM NOVEMBER 25TH TO DECEMBER 20TH
OPENING NOVEMBER 27TH, 2009 FROM 7-10PM

Fragments of a desolate post-industrial landscape loom silently in Tristram Lansdowne’s recent paintings. Isolated from their surroundings, the function and histories of these fragments are offered up for inspection, revealing layers of usage and mysterious redevelopment. Pylons, fencing, and hedges all serve to distance us from them yet we are drawn to the indexical hum they exude, the marks of previous occupants suggesting numerous narratives we yearn to order, in search of a distinct history. Confounding this desire, hidden caverns, unexplained atmospheric phenomena and concrete foundations hang exposed, all adding to an unnerving feeling of solitude.

Lansdowne drafts and paints with almost surgical precision, suspending our disbelief long enough to allow us to fall into these eerie alternate narratives growing on the fringe of the inhabited world as if down a rabbit-hole, or perhaps in this case, a trap-door.

Drawing upon notions of the Romantic landscape as much as scientific and technical illustration, these fragments are presented as archaeological specimens, producing a history which speaks not only to the life of those who occupied these structures, but to the structures themselves.

Tristram Lansdowne, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, observes the evolution and decay of our urban environments through his intricate watercolour studies. Intensely rendered graffiti and the uncovering of underground structures reveal a contemplative look at the contemporary environment on the verge of disintegration and reintegration. Entropical Paradise marks Lansdowne’s second Toronto exhibition with LE Gallery. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo show at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City in early 2010.