The Wheel of Fortune
The Wheel of Fortune
Category: Paintings
Artist: Chris Gollon
Subject: Being Human
Date of Work: Jan-March
Year of Work: 2009
Media: acrylic on canvas
Size: 48" x 36"
Private collection. This painting was produced by Chris Gollon while he was a Fellow and First Artist in Residence at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Durham (Jan - Mar 2009). It forms part of the exhibition 'Being Human', which is accompanied by a full colour catalogue, with texts by the other Fellows and by art historian Tamsin Pickeral.
"Perhaps it is The Wheel of Fortune (after Goya), one of the last paintings that Chris painted during his residency, which
summarises the mood of this extraordinarily creative period. An angel looks upon the world of humans with alacrity, watching us going round and round, not in control, making the same mistakes, stuck in a hole, unable to break free. But the circle we are stuck in all that we have. It is our habitat, and there is nowhere else to go. We seem to be at home in this habitat, at play in our repetitions, always imperfect, swirling around in ways that not always cause harm, having fun; an existence that draws a wry smile from the observer of
the human drama." Extract from catalogue text by Ash Amin.
Ash Amin is Professor of Geography and Executive Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University. He writes on the relationship between society and space in fields such as urbanism, economy, race and multiculturalism, and progressive politics. His most recent books include Cities (with Nigel Thrift, 2002, Polity), Architectures of Knowledge (with Patrick Cohendet, 2004, OUP), Thinking about Almost everything, (edited with Michael O’Neill, 2009, Profile), and The Social Economy (ed, Zed, 2009, in press).
Being Human catalogue (cover)
To purchase the catalogue click here.
