CHARLES AVERY: 'The Islanders – An Introduction: Part III’

“In the mind of an islander, the large part of the island’s territory is mysterious, because the further you get toward the centre of the island the darker it becomes until oblivion sets in. There’s a kind of conceptual line (akin to the Arctic Circle) called 'Descartes’ Axiom’ which denotes the latitude at which, if one ventures beyond, one will never return, because one will not find one's way out again. On the island there are of course those who claim to have breached the line, and many extraordinary accounts exist of what lies beyond the wall of darkness. The people disregard these accounts, but the if'en go for them hook, line and sinker.

Some of the islanders hold that the island is completely symmetrical in space-time - therefore if you were to walk around the island, there would simultaneously be an identical you walking the opposite way around the island. You and the other you would end up back where the other started, but would not be aware of this. That is why others hold that the island is not symmetrical. There is no way of proving it either way - it's just a question of which system you prefer. The islanders are not into proof, because they don't believe in truth, or rather they believe in the concept of truth, but don't believe it to be superior to the concept of error in any way.”

Charles Avery’s epic project entitled 'The Islanders', is expected to occupy the artist for at least the next 10 years, a gesamtkunstwerk that will finally culminate in an encyclopedia in several large leather-bound volumes. The project sees the artist describe the topology and cosmology of an imaginary island, or indeed planetary sphere, in which every element from its geology to its inhabitants, flora and fauna, embodies a philosophical proposition, problem or solution.

Avery’s drawings operate as a direct link to his own dreamscape and imagination, intuitively combining references to the everyday and a wide-ranging wealth of historical and cultural knowledge. In this exhibition, Avery will present his most complex maps of the island to date, and include drawings, sculptures, diagrams and text in which every detail is considered and explained. The viewer will be transported into a mythological place filled with finely drawn characterization and comic sensibility.

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'The Grass is Alive' (from ‘The Islanders’) 2006, Gouache, ink and pencil on card, in three panels. Each panel: 104 x 104 cm; total dimensions 104 x 312 cm (A00148)

The Grass is Alive' (from ‘The Islanders’) (detail) 2006, Gouache, ink and pencil on card, in three panels. Each panel: 104 x 104 cm; total dimensions 104 x 312 cm (A00148)

Untitled (The Ringing in the Air) 2006, Pencil and ink on paper, 90 x 68.7cm, (A00160)

Installation view 'The Islanders: an introduction - part III', ARQUEBUSE Geneva, 2007

Aleph Nul (from ‘The Islanders’) 2006, Jesmonite, acrylic paint, 85 x 50 x 30 cm, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, (A00152)

Installation view 'The Islanders: an introduction - part III', ARQUEBUSE Geneva, 2007