Sam Sanford
Can’t Go Back
July 17-August 22
“It seems that when Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut, returned from space, Kruschev admonished him that though he likely had seen God in space, it was better they tell the people that he hadn’t. And so the story goes that when, on subsequent travels around the world, Gagarin encountered the Pope in Rome, the Pontiff requested that, though Gagarin probably had not seen God in space, would it be okay to tell the people he had?”
-- Edgar Mitchell with Dwight Williams, The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Spiritual Worlds
Sam Sanford’s recent paintings and videos are just as much about outer space—celestial bodies, the desolate surface of the moon, the Apollo space landing—as they are about inner space—the human yearning for grand revelations, the psychology of the spacefarer, and the view of Earth as a tiny and fragile world. Central to Sanford’s exhibition is the tension between material phenomenon and cosmic mysticism—the human search for the spiritual unknown within a scientific world-view.
Working with images from NASA, Sanford continues his investigation of the RGB color model. Painting only with transparent cyan, magenta, and yellow paint, Sanford engages with the technology inherent to optics and pigment. Like a Sunday comic slightly out of print, the mechanics of mass media representation are made evident. The apparent information of the painting coincides with Sanford’s interest in the mystery that is lost due to the advancement of technology. According to Sanford, “It’s a way of trying to bring some magic power back to pictures now that we are swimming in an ocean of mass-reproduced images.” By revealing the material make-up of his works, Sanford allows for the technical to coincide with the imagined.
The title of the exhibition Can’t Go Back references the loss of this mystery or the change caused by any new knowledge. After space exploration, what we thought we knew or understood about the world cannot be undone. Incorporating the 3-color system with careful investigations into the history of space travel, Sanford seeks to recapture the awe of the cosmos. Or as he says, “make it weird it again.”
Sam Sanford was born in 1977 in San Antonio Texas. He received a BA in religion from Reed College in 1999. He has been making art and music in Austin since 2001. This is his second solo show. He hopes one day to emigrate to Mars.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS:
Sunday, July 25th: 7-8pm, TALK: Artist talk with Sam Sanford
Sunday, August 8th: 7-8pm, WORKSHOP: Sam Sanford leads a workshop on hoaxes and myths of the outer realm
Sunday, August 15th, 7-9pm, MOVIE SCREENING: The Disclosure Project Witness Video - compelling first-hand testimony of pilots and radar operators of their encounters with extra-terrestrial spacecraft and more.
