October 6–December 18, 2016
TOTAH
183 Stanton Street
New York NY 10002
Hours: Wednesday–Sunday 11am–6pm
T +1 212 582 6111
info [at] davidtotah.com
TOTAH presents Cosmic Connections, opening October 6, with works by Agnes Martin, Aleksandar Duravcevic, Alighiero Boetti, Andrea Marescalchi, Brian Wills, Bruce Conner, Charles Ross, Dan Walsh, David Austen, Ed Ruscha, Edward Hopper, Ernesto Caivano, Eugene Delacroix, Frank Walter, Gilles Bensimon, Gino de Domenicis, Giorgio De Chirico, Heinz Mack, Jose Antonio Suarez Londoño, Jane Logemann, Josaku Maeda, Joseph Cornell, Juan Miro, Julio González, Kara Rooney, Kenny Scharf, Lisa Beck, Luca Pancrazzi, Mara De Luca, Marsha Cottrell, Matt Chambers, Max Ernst, Mel Bochner, Nathlie Provosty, Oscar Dominguez, Osvaldo Licini, Peter Doig, Phil Wagner, Piero Pizzi-Cannella, Ray Johnson, Roberto Matta, Saul Steinberg, Victor Brauner, Wallace Berman, Wim Wenders, Wols and Yves Tanguy.
In the Orphic cosmogony, history began when the Greek god Chronos begot Aether (Light) and Chaos. Chronos planted a silvery egg in the divine Aether and from within sprung Hydros and the first generation of gods. They called their world the Kosmos, a term the ancient Greeks extended to praise any exquisitely ordered, harmonious object, bearing the qualities of elegance and grace.
The artists presented in Cosmic Connections are united by this singular quality—the essential grace that connects one with the universe in a strange, intense light. Descartes describes this elemental virtue as that of the Muses, derived from the Greek verb that signifies to “Explore with Desire,” going so far as to declare that desire “opens the difficult Locke of all Arts and Sciences.” In these “cosmic” artists is manifest an Axis Mundi, a funnel, a tunnel, a ladder or tree, a line traced—like dragon veins running down from the sky into the mountains and along the earth—that bridges the misty penumbra between actuality, fantasy and future.
In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas too sought to define this quality between time and eternity. Aquinas wished to revive the aevum, the time of the angels. In Cosmic Connections there is a profound alchemy, a superconscious creation, in the works of the artists presented. This alchemy unites physical and immaterial domains, treating these not as divorced, but rather soul mates or kindred spirits, friends that shape each others’ rhythms, colors and forms. These artists are heirs to ancient signals. They tell the epic tale of our veiled immortality, the paradox of humanity’s bizarre power anchored in our vulnerability. They evoke the aevum, suspending us between eternity and the now, erasing time and reminding us of our mortality all at once.
About TOTAH
TOTAH is a lower east side gallery dedicated to reengaging the alchemy between artist and gallerist. We align artist, practice, thought, and audience, presenting emerging and established talent in solidarity with a culture of authentic expression. TOTAH is a nexus for creativity rooted in uncompromising vision.
Media contact
Sarah Lehat, Director of Communications: sarah [at] davidtotah.com, T +1 310 806 1551