In Empty Room, a new series of works from California-based artist Adam Caldwell, the concept of dualism – the separation of body and mind or spirit espoused in religion and philosophy – is examined, along with the effect of technology on modern culture. We can conclude Caldwell is not impressed.
In this series of 10 oil-paintings, we see a world in trouble. Here, the factories are not productive or progressive, but belching, the plastic not useful, but suffocating, the tyres not driving society forward but piled in polluting heaps.
We see textual references to Descartes, a proponent of dualism, amid the rubble of modern life. Caldwell uses a mixture of photorealism, surrealism, classicism and even touches of pop-art to create montages spanning ages, styles and topics, but his central critique of dualism is always evident – his nudes are not shameful as the Cartesian body is portrayed, but at times beautiful and at others aggressive.
The collection – on show at San Francisco’s Shooting Gallery, ’til 8th December – may be called Empty Room, but its full to bursting with action and ideas.
