Also Rises: An exhibition of ceramics, paintings & works on paper by Tom Norris.

LONDON, 31 May, 2023 - JGM Gallery presents Also Rises, an exhibition of ceramic works and paintings on canvas by Tom Norris.

For his first solo exhibition, Norris borrows, in part, the title of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926), an epigraph which the author himself borrowed from The Old Testament. There are comparisons to be drawn between the writer's prose and the artist's aesthetic; Hemingway's directness and clarity corresponds with Norris' muscular brushwork and emphasis on the essential elements of his subject. The title, however, is primarily a catalyst for the artist's visual interrogations. 

It would be a mistake, then, to compare the two too literally. Rather, we are encouraged to consider how the conceptual opposites and equivalents implied by the phrase "... also rises...", might be expressed in visual terms. As Norris states in a recent conversation with Julius Killerby (Manager of JGM Gallery), "There’s an idea about bringing more than one perspective together and then layering these ideas as image."

Interspersed between gestural markings of trees and foliage are hard edged blocks of colour and right angled lines, visual motifs that suggest borders and a separation of spaces. That is, we are variably positioned outside of nature and within it. Indeed, the depiction of one thing by Norris often suggests its opposite: exteriors imply interiors, mass suggests void and, on a more material level, concave vessels produce convex surfaces. In other words, when the sun sets, we know that it will also rise. 

In the paintings specifically, the borders also suggest an interest in the artificial nature of representation. They tighten the cropping and remind the viewer that the  picture - or any picture for that matter - is only a limited version of a broader reality.