Verne Dawson, Jonah and the Whale (Overboard) (2009), courtesy of Gavin Brown’s enterprise, NY.
There is never one reason behind a painting by Verne Dawson, and his recent group of new work up at Gavin Brown’s enterprise though June 20, 2009 is no different. The exhibition revolves around three large paintings depicting the tale of Jonah and the Whale. True to Dawson form, these are not illustrative works meant to appear alongside the Old Testament story, there’s much more to read in to. Contemporary and ancient symbols are mixed with biblical and astronomical references. “In this case with Jonah and the Whale it comes from a long interest in interpreting fairy tales, folk tales, religion and myths with the knowledge of their astronomical significance,” said Dawson last week when I visited him at the gallery. When explaining the imagery and symbols used in each work he is full of footnotes and side stories.
We begin with Jonah and the Whale (overboard) (2009) a large vertical painting depicting an American frigate being tossed about by swirling, curling teal waves, approaching a dark, smoke-filled tempest. The vast sky (a common use of scale in Dawson’s work) is a calm and dominating force. In the bottom left hand corner is a recently overboard Jonah. The American frigate is a reference to Dawson’s ship short stint in U.S. Navy – just 11 months. “There’s no 11 month plan,” he tells me. In the navy, Debbie-downers on the boat were referred to as a “Jonahs” and Dawson tells me that in the past couple years, he felt a bit like a Jonah himself in America. “Jonah isn’t thrown off the boat, he has a bad vibe and he knows it. I had been living abroad and at one point remember sitting in a restaurant with my wife during the early Bus/Cheney years and saying, ‘I have to leave America.’ Of course it wasn’t only me who felt that way. I hope people can relate to on a more general level,” says Dawson.
The Jonah in the corner also calls to mind an upside down Jesus on the cross. The reference there is no coincidence, “Jonah and the Whale is very much a Jesus story which is really a solar eclipse story within A lunar story,” says Dawson. Each cycle of the moon is roughly 28 days that begins with the new moon when for three days the moon is not visible in the sky. This is the only time a total eclipse of the sun can occur. As the sun of God dies, the round stone covering his tomb is rolled away after three days and the sun of God has risen. Jonah’s tale relates to the lunar cycle as well, argues Dawson. In the Northern hemisphere (biblical lands included), the constellation Cetus (which is Latin for whale) is only visible for roughly three weeks a year just above the horizon. Dawson believes Jonah and the Whale is about the moon going into Cetus at a time when a solar eclipse also occurred.
Verne Dawson, Jonah and the Whale (In the Whale) (2009), courtesy of Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York.
That constellation is depicted in the second of the series, Jonah and the Whale (in the whale) (2009). The most powerful work of the series, it is an interior view of the whale. Standing in front of the work you get the feeling of being inside the belly of the beast. It is dark and cavernous with deep purples and blues and menacing red arches outline the shape of the belly. The exit out of the whale’s mouth is narrow and lined with shiny, jagged white teeth. Across your line of vision is the constellation Cetus, a faded glimmer of an exit. “To me this is the most religious painting in that it’s like a the apse of a catherdral. But unlike an apse there’s a door, you can keep going right out the backdoor of the church,” says Dawson, laughing.
The final work Jonah and the Whale (beached and spit out) (2009) shows a massive beached whale, jaw open wide, and an exhausted Jonah beside it. In the dark cobalt and black sky we see the constellation Cetus again and a crescent moon – a new beginning after three days of darkness. We’re brought back to the astronomy reference. Dawson is convinced that myths and ancient tales were historically used to explain the sky, how it moved, and how it could be used to tell time. “I don’t think we can comprehend the great importance of the night sky in ancient times. This is how we kept track of time. The personifications of stars and planets allowed us to tell stories that you can remember and pass on the information.
And Dawson is carrying on that tradition of storytelling with each work. “I know that [these stories] are obsolete and we no longer need to look at the sky to know what time it is or when to meet a client but it’s something that’s been with us for tens of thousands of years and is the infrastructure of culture. One reason they are still with us is that they have multiple meanings. I have no doubt that some people will see these paintings as conservative. It’s beyond conservative! It’s a culture at least 40,000 years old. I am trying to conserve it for more reasons than I can say.
Verne Dawson, Jonah and the Whale (Beached and Spit Out) (2009), courtesy of Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York.
