Cognates

Description:

Andrew Keating’s exhibition Cognates, developed during his residency at Western Front, featured a new series of sculptural paintings that conjured a Dantean landscape infused with surrealist imagery. Central to the exhibition was a diorama titled The Fall (1985), installed in the rear window of the gallery. This work blended subconscious symbolism with natural materials, incorporating foraged wood and tree branches to evoke a nightmarish environment.

At the centre of the space was Le Boucheron, a sculptural work composed of an upended wooden table with a broken leg balanced on stacked cedar burls. Painted on the underside of the table was a vivid red figure—the character of "the woodcutter."

A six-minute video accompanied the exhibition, documenting Keating in the nude wielding an axe to hack at the leg of the table featured in Le Boucheron. The axe itself was embedded in one of the cedar burls as part of the final installation.

Video documentation is available upon request.

Curated by Daina Augaitis.