22 Oct 2011

David Flinn at envoy enterprises

In These tides hide times and lost lives, David Flinn employs symbolism and metaphor to explore a number of complex themes. Throughout the work, concepts of religion, ignorance and dependency are examined as the artist speculates upon our beliefs and our place in the universe.

When the necessity to escape monotony and static pervades, notions of abyss and depth arise. Flinn employs the sea to serve as a metaphor of this transition. Representing a means to escape life, a place between two distinct states and a society unbound by any specific nationality, the sea balances the precarious line between life and death.

Embodying part of a shipwreck, a 15-foot mast, installed as if washed ashore on a deserted island, refers to lost nostalgic notions of pride and desperation. The ship, which represents society, has been lost in a storm of useless information. A storm that irrevocably destroyed national, institutional and personal identities rendering an amalgamation of all persons into effect.
Like the ghost of a sunken ship, operating outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life, Flinn strives to free us from a society bound by limitless rules, regulations and constraints. With no physical or psychological space left for self development and furthering, three fans, mounted on the ceiling and pointing at the entrance of the space, allow Flinn to create his own tempest, cleansing everyone who enters the space.

Two large photographs on tarp, representing either flags or sails, accompany the other tokens of the sea in the exhibition, along with a video of a flag flying on the beach, that references notions of conquer and destroy as well as claim of ownership.

Flinn attempts to make us realize that 'Chance' may have become defunct in our premeditated and planned lives and that the level of destruction involved in the ship's loss has caused Man to loose its beast and surrender to vegetation. The artist urges us to pull up our anchors and set sail for unconquered lands.

David Flinn holds a degree from the School of Visual Arts and has exhibited in group and solo shows in both New York and Italy. He lives and works in Manhattan.