Marc Blake: Relativity (2012)

In “Relativity” Marc Blake presents us with a suite of works that examines the place of the individual within society. In a world that displays ever more connectivity but, paradoxically, ever more disconnection, Blake examines ideas of isolation within a multitude, the transitory nature of the moment, and the uncertainty of the future.

The idea of ongoing process is evidenced in the techniques Blake uses, as well as in his subject matter. Through the manipulation of found images that have been deconstructed and recomposed, the works retain a sense of layered histories. His transferral of images imprints them into the surface of the plywood and they become part of the surface rather than sitting upon it. Likewise Blake’s use of the natural woodgrain turns the medium into the subject matter. In At That Exact Same Moment ply ripples form on the lake, morphing into ridges of earth as the tones of Blake’s palette shift from violet to brown.

Whereas previous paintings have contained a number of seemingly disconnected tableaux, in Relativity Blake has pulled his focus tight, illustrating a single instant. His lone subjects, faces often turned away, invite solipsistic reflection on our own place in the world. Do we take our place in the world irrespective of others around us, or are we constructed by their mirrored glances?

Blake’s depictions of singular moments do not exist in a vacuum, each is relative to that which has gone before and that which will follow after. Form and Emptiness reveals this layered time: the frozen second, the two-score-and-ten of man, the long centuries of the ‘old man pine’ (1). It is no coincidence that Blake has chosen this Asian symbol of longevity to tower above the monk practising his martial art. It serves as a form of memento mori, as do the cherry blossoms in Relativity, their fleeting presence a reminder that ‘this too shall pass’.

(1) Marc Blake. Artist’s Statement, 2012