Here, we ask an artist to frame the essential details behind one of their latest works.
Bio: Dominic Chambers, 31, New Haven (@chambersdominic)
Title of work: The Indra Sign (2024).
Where to see it: “Meraki” at Lehmann Maupin (1 Cromwell Place, London) until November 9.
Three words to describe it: Wonder, thunder, landscape.
What was on your mind at the time: The Indra Sign is the most recent work in my ongoing Thunderscape series. It’s a body of work that was born from a musing I had while roaming around Edgerton Park, a large green space where I occasionally take my dog for some early-morning romping sessions with her friends and fellow dog owners. The sky in New Haven occasionally shines silver, and I’m overtaken by a sense of poetry provided to me by the clouds and rumblings of a storm.
On one such day, I contemplated what it’d be like to encounter a sky phenomena like lightning on the earth. Such a thought gave birth to the imagining of an alternative reality in which the occurrence of lightning wasn’t only flashing bolts within the sky but simultaneously forms of demarcation that one could traverse within a greenfield. Of course, such a desire can be reduced to a sense of magical thinking, that is, until I observed the shadows produced by the skeletal trees around me. I witnessed lightning bolts composed by the shadows of trees. My observation made my imagination swell with excitement as I encountered a surreal event within natural and mundane circumstances.
From there, I began to paint surreal landscapes in which fantastical and joyous activities occurred within expansive fields marked by lightning bolts produced by the shadows of trees in the picture plane. Activities I consider forms of kinetic leisure—kite flying, running, and moments of play became necessary as I consider them as wondrous as the environment in which the scenes are taking place. To emphasize the majestic nature of my meditations and the image, I turned to mythology and found the God of weather and storms, Indra. I think of the role of Indra as I do the art historical figure of the annunciation angel who bears the message of a supernatural event. For me, the invitation to rest and run through a field of lightning bolts is a surreal opportunity provided by Indra as the governing force within my painting.
An interesting feature that’s not immediately noticeable: The green hills within the painting are painted atop of thick layers of violet and cadmium orange.
How it reflects your practice as a whole: The Indra Sign embodies my ongoing interest in the role of poetry within the natural world and its ability to provoke a sense of the surreal to the senses and illuminate the imagination. The impact of such observations is only fully experienced when one immerses oneself in the world with a sense of devotion and passion. Much of my work examines the intersections between surrealism, leisure, and black life, and the expansion of my interests has grown to encompass the role of poetry as a bridge to the surreal and a song to ensnare and enliven one’s interior world.
One song that captures its essence: “Wave Therapy” by Sampha.
