Gordon Cheung: The Solar Cry

Drawing on intertextual sources from the classical to science fiction, Gordon Cheung’s multi-media practice seeks to establish a sign-system to visually capture the virtual landscape in which 21st century man exists. The themes of these layered works continuously evolve to reflect ecological, social and political reality in globalized capitalist society.

The Solar Cry draws inspiration from Bataille’s famous essay, ‘The Rotten Sun’. The text describes the Mithraic cult, who practice sacrificial worship of the sun by slashing the throat of a bull, venerated as the earthly symbol of the sun-god. The exhibition centres around four epic landscape paintings depicting the bull-rider – Cheung’s adaptation of classical Minotaur mythology - within the art historical context of the Romantic sublime landscape, aligning himself with the painters of the genre, Caspar David Friedrich and John Martin.