David Zwirner presents an exhibition of large-scale photographs from Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s ongoing East of Eden series.
East of Eden, begun in 2008, takes as its source of inspiration the economic and political climate of the United States towards the end of the Bush era. Identifying a parallel between the financial collapse and the biblical Book of Genesis in terms of an “ensuing loss of innocence,” East of Eden consists of singular, at times disparate images of people and events after “the fall,” unified by a pervading sense of disillusionment. Its title further refers to John Steinbeck’s 1952 magnum opus, which echoes many of the themes in the Book of Genesis, such as the classic struggle between good and evil, the hunger for acceptance and greatness, the capacity for self-destruction, and especially guilt and redemption.
Whereas East of Eden incorporates more readily apparent symbolism than the artist’s previous series, the various sources are intricately weaved and layered, and the works’ referential ambiguity allows for open, wide-ranging interpretations. The exhibition includes Cain and Abel (2013), which portrays the biblical brothers as a gay couple, with arms wrapped around each other, while a nude pregnant woman, a modern-day Eve, watches over them. The men’s ambiguous gesture—are they embracing or fighting?—appears intensified by the red and blue colors of their respective shirts that hint at the existing divide in America between the political parties. Other photographs on view are Upstate (2009), where an apple tree slowly emerges from a tangle of surrounding foliage, and Abraham (2010), in which a red dart, balancing inches away from the face of a young man, evokes Abraham’s sacrificial offering of his son Isaac. In San Joaquin Valley, California (2008), two black vehicles, driving along a highway that stretches through a barren, unpopulated landscape, become metaphors for Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise.
EXHIBITION
East of Eden by Philip-Lorca diCorcia
From April 2nd to May 2nd, 2015
David Zwirner
525 West 19th Street
New York
