Fresh from her recent exhibition in Leipzig, we are pleased to present crystal sci, a solo show of new paintings by Miriam Jarrs.
Miriam Jarrs’ paintings are like hallucinations in outer space, full of supernatural encounters and subtle slips of perception. Dark becomes light, up becomes down –stars become fireflies, and plants bloom in the heart of supernovas. A horse glittering with lights stares out from beneath pulsating aurora, while fluorescent flowers litter their petals across space. Psychedelic, serene, at times almost sci-fi – Miriam’s new works wander magically into in the unknown.
For the works in crystal sci, light and reflection have become key themes, set within the context of landscapes that seem to float and interweave with inter-planetary space. Darkness, even when jet black, seems bright in these paintings, peppered with starbursts that glint from the unknown. In crystal sci itself, the dark cover of a forest’s leaves becomes electric green, glowing against deepest black like a beacon from the endlessness of space. Likewise in out there, the awesome expanse of space is seen from behind a screen of birches and fluorescent foliage, as if the forest somehow sprang to life in a secret plane of outer space. Islands float loosely on a lake of dark light, while branches and leaves glow like comet-trails and solar winds. Between these large works, smaller works are scattered like satellite planets and moons, acting like their own little worlds – either focusing on particular elements from larger works, or introducing their own unique flora to the interstellar theatre. And amidst it all, the horse appears like a timeless sentinel, guiding the path through an unfamiliar realm.
For Miriam, her supernatural landscapes are the creation of alternate realities where the traditional rules of rationalism no longer reign supreme. Through placing mystical motifs like the horse, the aurora and other-worldly plants within impossible but somehow visually coherent landscapes, her compositions create their own internal realism or logic. They are similar to emotions or memories – irrational, often contradictory, but real and poignant all the same. This is the terrain that Miriam explores in her paintings: the realm of emotional logic played out through visual symbols.
