Mount Street Gallery, Mayfair, London exhibits 'Still Points & Sea Beams'

28 August 2019

J A M E S D E A N D I A M O N D | S T I L L P O I N T S & S E A B E A M S
C U R A T E D B Y S A M I A A S H R A F

The contemporary British artist James Dean Diamond has been appointed as the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Genome Damage and Stability Centre, part of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex.

Diamond and curator Samia Ashraf have been permitted access to the work of the research groups and genomic scientists at the Centre, enabling them to consider ideas of genome damage, mutation and their relationship to diseases such as cancer. Translated into a body of photographic work, Still Points & Sea Beams, Diamond’s art responds to a battlefield that is DNA - a war zone envisioned through the urban environment. The intention is to bridge art and science to establish a collective vocabulary and assist in understanding and exploring these multifaceted issues.

Framing his work within the parameters of two polar extremes of speed, Diamond’s Still Points & Sea Beams provides scope to visualise the complexity of DNA. A 'still point' in time is a theoretical hypothesis that suggests that the centre point of a spinning sphere or circle has no motion and that it may therefore act as the slowest point within the universe. By contrast, the fastest phenomenon is the refraction of light in water, the ‘sun beam’. Functioning within this paradigm, Diamond embraces the spectrum of possibilities of existence and presents a place partially known.

Shooting in London and Athens over a course of 3 years, Diamond has composed work of haunting dissolution and layers of tension, marked by sublime beauty. The 25 densely black-and-white pieces are shot ‘in camera’ with film and digital capture; each frame is layered with multiple images, the work as a whole enveloping the viewer in a large-scale installation that possesses a vivid language and comprises chromogenic prints, each measuring 110cm x 195cm. Indefinable scenes melt away in the horizon; there are glimpses of transient spaces and compositions of luminous gestural form; fluid and liquid architecture collapses; elements blur and outlines become impressions - these dynamic, undulated forces of entwining light photons become the constructs of a metropolis and suggestions of cellular activity.

A prevailing humanity resides in Diamond’s practice, and his works reveal a philosophical exploration pertaining to universal interest and meaning. This ‘abstract set of forms finds harmonies, patterns and rhythms in the conflicts of this world, internally, biologically and externally.’¹ In part, this project was triggered by the destruction of Homs, Syria. Among the vast, silent debris stands erect the presence of a distant minaret of a mosque largely intact, evoking the continuation of a spiritual plane. This work is a memorial to people of conflict.
^1. Kelly Grovier, American writer and art critic on ‘Unstoppable: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything’ BBC 6 April 2019