Christopher Robin Duncan: Respite

Rebecca Camacho Presents is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by Oakland based interdisciplinary artist Christopher Robin Duncan. In both visual and sound based media, Duncan poses questions of time and its effects. His recent works are personal examinations of success and failure, cosmic correlation and the connectivity of existence.

In a process akin to a photogram, where a photographic image is made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material and exposing it to UV rays, Duncan layers and folds his base fabrics before placing them outdoors for six-month intervals, without the use of emulsion or chemical accelerant. Marking time by celestial cycle, Duncan distributes and harvests the fabrics on full moons, bookending the embedded light of the sun with the light of its lunar counterpart.

Abstract portraits of places and times, the surfaces comprising the works on view were originally categorized as failures when initially collected. Dating from 2014 through the present, the exposed areas were intended to tell visual stories attached to specific objects and their inherent significances. The resulting ambiguous imagery was in contrast to the desired figurative representation and the fabrics were set aside. Recently rediscovered, Duncan’s vantage point shifts and he now reads the conceptual imagery as energy burned in suspended time, ephemeral moments of rest and relief; the divergence another tracking point of the evolution of time and space.

Using the surface exposures as a guide, Duncan oscillates between applying paint in a dense central point or a minimal framework. The variance in technique speaks to Duncan’s personal connection to the surface forms. The shapes of the heavily painted works mirror outlines of items that are meaningful to the artist. The painted borders contain more abstract gestures, grounded and framed. Each technique creates a portal or stage - a visual entry point to lead the viewers focus. The forms are mysterious yet calm, topographical yet otherworldly, hopeful.

A sonic component of the exhibition is installed in the project room. Composed from live performance recordings and studio edits, using harmonicas, tuning forks, field recordings and electronics, the album encapsulate one year of sensory activity into three movements. Prompted by recordings of waves breaking on the Northern California coastline, the compositions are lush and warm with melodic tones ebbing throughout. Hinging upon the movement of tide, time, the sun and the moon, the record reflects and connects the cyclical nature of Duncan’s paintings.