James Clar: Press Reset

Jane Lombard Galleryis pleased to present, Press Reset, a new window installation located in the front window of their new space (58 White Street in Tribeca), opens September 16 - October 12, 2020. New York City is a place of reinvention. It’s a city pulsing with life, and one that makes you work for its affection, both embracing and challenging its inhabitants simultaneously. This year, nearly two decades after 9/11 changed New York forever, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically upended life in the city. But through all the tragedy, New Yorkers came together in orchestral collectivity to help each other see it through to the new beginning. Press Reset is presented in honor of New York’s extraordinary perseverance and is part of the Tribeca Art Walk. 

Press Reset uses generative algorithms to visually simulate supernovas; powerful, energetic and luminous stellar explosions. These astronomical events mark the end of the life of a star, that in turn, scatters material through the galaxy, creating the potential for new solar systems, and in the case of our Earth, new life. Here the viewer travels through space while the software generates supernovas again and again, randomly spawning potential worlds and alternate realities.  

Lockdown shifted the ecosystems within the five boroughs, and now, the city stands on the brink of an exciting period of re-imagination. New Yorkers have a reputation for standing strong and united in riding the waves of change, whatever challenges they may bring. What a post-coronavirus future looks like, not just for New York City, but for the world, is uncertain, but it has been in many respects a supernova, and perhaps an opportunity to start anew.