ART CITIES: Zurich -Verne Dawson

The figurative fantasy painter Verne Dawson was born in 1961 in Alabama, his interest in the past is an effort to show the continuity of ancient, even prehistoric culture in the contemporary life, often revealed in symbols and tales relating to the telling of time, and a common use of numbers in attributes of myth and popular culture, holidays and festivals. Dawson is also concerned that we have lost our connection to the natural rhythms that governed our ancestors’ lives.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Eva Presenhuber Archive

Dawson weaves the prehistoric past into the present embracing a vast history of 30,000 years. His work expresses a long held interest in charting the continuities of human nature and culture and the perpetuation of methods of timekeeping through oral and visual traditions. Delving into popular culture his paintings often explore mathematical and astronomical signs in folklore, calendars and astrology. His visual language does not attempt to idealise his subject matter. Rather, his painting style is self-effacing and grounded in the vernacular, offering careful consideration of narrative through composition and detail. For his exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, entitled “Mermaid Money”, attempts to confront this gradual obliteration of collective memory, which has seemingly caused everyday connections to become lost. For example, how the course of the sun and the moon has forever defined men’s concept of time in every part of the world. In his painting “Winsor McKay”, Dawson observes the originator of the animated film as he sketches en plein air a gigantic brontosaurus at its bath, and, therefore, touches multiple levels of meaning and multiple layers of time simultaneously. He speculates on the ability of painting to configure a world of its own and then present this vision. He is fascinated by the way animation can teach a dinosaur to walk, and moreover, by all the ways, both positive and negative, how such visualizations can influence our actual scientific observation. Accordingly, Dawson’s works are doors to a world that has always existed and still goes on to exist, but is also a world that has been pushed aside by the manifold entanglements of modern civilization.

Info: Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Limmatstr. 270, Zurich, Duration: 21/11/15-23/1/1, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-17:00, http://presenhuber.com