Art Basel Miami Beach

December 4th – December 8th 2024
Art Basel Miami Beach
JEREMY SHAW
Miami Beach Convention Center
Nova Sector, Booth N8

Bradley Ertaskiran is pleased to present new and recent work by Berlin-based Canadian artist Jeremy Shaw for Nova at Art Basel Miami Beach. Shaw’s multidisciplinary practice explores altered states and the cultural, spiritual, and scientific practices that aspire to map transcendence. For this presentation, Jeremy Shaw seamlessly blends sculpture and photography in a hypnotic installation. Custom-framed archival photographs feature along the walls of the booth, while Untitled (There in Spirit), presents a striking focal point in the center.

Untitled (There in Spirit) is a multimedia sculpture reminiscent of a votive candle stand, crafted from steel and housing 156 electric candles encased in red glass. The flickering flames, initially random, synchronize with a slow-building beat that intensifies alongside them, eventually evolving into an oscillating tunnel pattern that consumes the grid and gains speed toward infinity. This work fuses the physical manifestations of prayer with scientific and science fictional representations of the infinite, creating an environment for reflection that explores both historical and contemporary belief systems. It addresses our innate desire to transcend the limitations of our physical existence while articulating intangible experiences.

Shaw’s ongoing photographic series, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition, features archival photographs capturing subjects in altered states of consciousness—spiritual, hedonistic, or technological ecstasy. Encased in custom-cut prismatic lenses, the images undergo magnification and repetition, distorting documentary imagery into a psychedelic display. The bending of light through these frames creates a hallucinatory kaleidoscopic effect, reflecting both the ecstatic psychological states of the photographic subjects and viewers alike. Positioned on the walls of the booth, these works focus our attention on a singular element: the moment of transcendence. They envelop the viewer in an unsettling yet intimate exploration of individual and collective catharsis, ultimately questioning the veracity of documentary imagery as a form of testimony.

Shaw’s practice intricately maps, distorts, animates, and extends records of perceived human transcendence beyond the frame. This presentation for Nova blends the spiritual with the technological, turning acts of faith into communal spectacles that invite viewers to reflect on devotion, ritual, and contemporary human experience.

For more information on the artist, please click here.

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