Sandow Birk | Sea of Contagion July 11 – September 5, 2020 Note: If acquired, works below must be loaned to an upcoming fall exhibition to be mounted on the U.S.S. Iowa in Long Beach, California. (Details to be announced)
Artist Statement: “In Sea of Contagion, I wanted the paintings, at first glance, to seem to be ‘classical’ or historical, but, on closer inspection, to be revealed as contemporary and metaphorical. The images were inspired by the coronavirus-infected cruise ships seen early on, and the idea of tanker ships representing our foundering economy seemed a good connection. The idea of the pandemic being transported across vast distances, death itself riding aboard shipping containers, stormy seas and uncertainty, isolation in quarantine being like a ship at sea—those were some of the ideas at work.”