\George Bolster200 Billion Suns02.03. - 20.04.2024
George Bolster ( *1972) lives and works in New York, USA and Cork, Ireland
As a species, we are living through successive revolutions, initially through the internet, and now the rise of AI, simultaneously, with the James Webb Telescope the physics of the cosmos has to be completely reevaluated.
We now know that the Big Bang was not the first, and that seven hundred and seventeen galaxies are now newly observable. Bolster’s wonder at these successive life altering sets of circumstances gives full rein to his singular speculative fictitious versions of geographical depictions of exoplanets. Each work encompasses numerous processes both analogue such as painting, embroidery, and debroidery; and digital through different image augmentation and digital drawing processes.
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Exhibition Views
Works
Highlights
Paintings
Tapestry
George Bolster
The Sublime on Kepler 16b (2024)
Acrylic on jacquard tapestry
200 x 149 cm
200 x 149 cm
George Bolster
Mars 300,000 AD (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches
In this tapestry work, Bolster combines painting and textile. The image is a composite fantasy derived from images recorded in the region presently known as American South-West. Its epic, astonishing, and unearthly landscapes have been the inspiration for countless science fiction films, and the artist’s research trip there resulted in a series of related works and film pieces, post his (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) SETI residency.
59 x 79 inches
In this tapestry work, Bolster combines painting and textile. The image is a composite fantasy derived from images recorded in the region presently known as American South-West. Its epic, astonishing, and unearthly landscapes have been the inspiration for countless science fiction films, and the artist’s research trip there resulted in a series of related works and film pieces, post his (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) SETI residency.
George Bolster
Proxima Centauri B, 280,000 AD (2023)
59 x 79 inches
149.86cm x 200.66cm
Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, and is four light years (38.9 trillion km) away from us. It is thought to have the right conditions to sustain life —not to hot and not to cold, referred to as being in the Goldilocks Zone— but the planet has massive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The artist depicts it as speculative fiction, as it is impossible to see it, and all of the exoplanets in a detailed way with current technologies given the vast distances involved.
149.86cm x 200.66cm
Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, and is four light years (38.9 trillion km) away from us. It is thought to have the right conditions to sustain life —not to hot and not to cold, referred to as being in the Goldilocks Zone— but the planet has massive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The artist depicts it as speculative fiction, as it is impossible to see it, and all of the exoplanets in a detailed way with current technologies given the vast distances involved.
George Bolster
The Last Humanmade Artwork (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches
We are living through two distinct revolutions in a very short time. First was the advent of the internet, and now we have Artificial Intelligence. The rapidity and lack of legislation regarding both has resulted in a series of unforeseen societal affects. The artist seeks to highlight the propensity for fraud in ideas and thinking, and the dangerous laziness the latter technology could inspire. Bolster laments the struggle implicit in a vocation like art, and wonders where this will end considering how short this species technological history actually is.
59 x 79 inches
We are living through two distinct revolutions in a very short time. First was the advent of the internet, and now we have Artificial Intelligence. The rapidity and lack of legislation regarding both has resulted in a series of unforeseen societal affects. The artist seeks to highlight the propensity for fraud in ideas and thinking, and the dangerous laziness the latter technology could inspire. Bolster laments the struggle implicit in a vocation like art, and wonders where this will end considering how short this species technological history actually is.
George Bolster
On Planet Octavia Butler there are two Suns (2024)
Acrylic on jacquard tapestry
80 x 60 cm
80 x 60 cm
George Bolster
TRAPPIST 1: 300,897AD (2023)
149.86cm x 200.66cm
59 x 79 inches
The surface of exoplanets is a subject of intense speculation and debate among scientists. They are found through a process of monitoring the light changes in front of different suns. So far, over 5,000 planets have been found. TRAPPIST 1 is an earthlike planet, confirmed to be rocky, but little else is known about the surface. Bolster proposes a speculative version, which until disproved could prove to be the case. These fantastical representations attempt to increase peoples interest in astronomy and the future, as it could look to our descendants.
59 x 79 inches
The surface of exoplanets is a subject of intense speculation and debate among scientists. They are found through a process of monitoring the light changes in front of different suns. So far, over 5,000 planets have been found. TRAPPIST 1 is an earthlike planet, confirmed to be rocky, but little else is known about the surface. Bolster proposes a speculative version, which until disproved could prove to be the case. These fantastical representations attempt to increase peoples interest in astronomy and the future, as it could look to our descendants.