Verne Dawson – Apalachicola to Zirconia @ Victoria Miro – London

American fantasy painter and Victoria Miro veteran Verne Dawson is back to the London gallery to present some of his latest works in “Apalachicola to Zirconia“.

The Alabama storyteller brings a few reflections on the geographic region and route taken by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto on his second and fatal expedition through the American Southeast, ostensibly searching for a fountain of youth.  Time collapses as past, present and future are represented in oil paintings that obey a non-linear chronology; they stand simultaneously as a visualising of the past, and as a perception of the present from an imagined future, where the natural and man-made retain a more balanced co-existence.

Some of the works’ imagery springs from the artist’s imagination, while others are unmediated observations of intimates: a self-portrait, or one of his wife beside a stream. Characteristic of Dawson’s practice, these works present an exploration of the continuities of nature and civilization, and a belief in the enduring vitality of beauty and painting as a primary form of visceral and visual communication.

While less oniric and pop than in his previous works, Apalachicola to Zirconia proposes one of Dawson’s many historical and legendary trips and it’s certainly a must visit for the coming weeks in London. More info this way.