Curatorial Statement:
As a curator, I am compelled by the foundational motivations that drive an artist’s practice—the underlying questions, impulses, and conditions that necessitate the act of making. If art functions as a frame around an idea, what is it that these artists ask us to consider—and more importantly, why? Splendid Unended explores these inquiries with an acute awareness of time, impermanence, and the evolving nature of artistic intent.
Exhibition Synopsis & Intent:
The title Splendid Unended speaks to the ongoing, unfinished nature of inquiry—especially the kind that underpins a serious art practice. It gestures toward beauty not in resolution, but in persistence: the drive to keep asking, making, and revealing. Essentially—Inquiry as both a method and a subject.
Russell: Please put the following into the read more section.
The philosophical underpinning of the exhibition draws inspiration from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, particularly the propositions:
1.1 The world is the totality of facts, not things
2.141 A picture is a fact
These statements suggest that representation—whether linguistic or visual—is a form of reality construction. In this context, the artworks presented are not simply objects, but propositions: factual expressions of an artist’s thinking, perception, and engagement with the world.
This exhibition is less interested in answers than in the layered logic of why the question arises in the first place. Within each “fact” these artists present, what is being revealed—or withheld? What compels their making, and how do their works operate at the threshold between private inquiry and shared experience?
Participating artists will be asked to contribute a brief written reflection responding to one or more of the following prompts:
- How does this work relate to your understanding of experience, perception, or the limits of thought?
- In what ways does the work engage with or expand upon your broader practice?
- What is the presence, experience, or dialogue intended—and why?
The show will feature up to 25 artists, including a core group that originally came together through informal gallery tours across New York City. These gatherings served as activations of surprise, critical reflection, and community—a shared method of navigating contemporary art through the lens of curiosity and mutual inquiry. What began as a casual practice evolved into a sustained investigation of artistic intent, aesthetic engagement, and the complexities of authorship and reception.
Splendid Unended offers a space for works that emerge from reflection rather than resolution—works that live in tension with the unknowable, and that articulate the enduring desire to reveal meaning through form. In doing so, affirming an experiential, unfinished, expansive, and essential pursuit.
