We’ve written about the works of Canadian artist Laurel Johannesson before, and the artist returns to Flavorwire with a new series. The Oblivion Seekers images are digitally over-painted photographs that are printed onto folded aluminum with an automotive clear-coat finish. Like Johannesson’s previous works, The Oblivion Seekers references the element of water — this time going above the surface to look at the expansiveness of the landscape as it relates to time, space, and perception. We spoke with Johannesson who told us more about the series:
I spend part of every year in Greece. When I’m at the seaside, I watch a lot of people stare out at the water, and the faint, or sometimes totally invisible, horizon. There is often something in their posture or expression that I read as longing, a kind of searching for something unreachable or unknowable. I think this observation, along with my interest in philosophies of temporality, combined with the constant presence of myth and legend in Greece . . . it all conflated to create The Oblivion Seekers narrative. The idea of drinking from that mythological body of water (The Lethe) in order to experience forgetfulness seemed to manifest itself in these present-day beings who longingly looked to the water.
See more from Johannesson’s The Oblivion Seekers in our gallery.
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission
©Laurel Johannesson, published with permission