We All Come and Go Unknown

Moremen Gallery

July 23-August 21, 2021

710 West Main Street, 2nd Floor

Louisville KY 40202

I know, no one's going to show me everything

We all come and go unknown

Each so deep and superficial

Between the forceps and the stone

- Joni Mitchell, Hejira, 1976 

Artist John Brooks’ creative impulses have always stemmed from a place of longing—longing to understand, to be understood, to belong, to see, to be seen, to love, to be loved. More than just the impetus for making art, this is the way he relates to and deals with the mysteries of being; because this disposition is his own, it feels personal, but many others are also driven by deep curiosity to see and know. Employing empathy and a kind of existential openness, we share and revel in the lush intensity of experiences that define and enrich human life, touching, at times, upon understanding and comprehension. This is the only way we can make sense of living, yet the nature of the individual self means that ultimately we each pass through this realm, as Joni Mitchell wrote, unknown. This gap between the self and the collective—between understanding and the unknown—has been a source of strife for millennia, but it need not be so. It is simply a universal truth: we exist, and then we cease to do so. In a time of decreasing resources and increasing rigidity, dogmatism, and division, it seems more important than ever that we make efforts to find ways to engage in a sprit of respect and regard for one another. We contain multitudes; the richness of us ought not to be a barrier but a cause for celebration, a source of wonder, and a font of ideas for progress. 

It is in this spirit that these works were made. Synthesizing an expansive array of influences such as photography, literature, pop culture, social media, and cinema, as well as personal and art historical references, this new body of work explores memory,  an alternative masculinity, and the marvelous complexities of identity. Inspired by collage and utilizing images both original and appropriated, Brooks’ figures elucidate the beautiful fragility of the self, expressing quiet, simmering emotion and a rich interior life. Populated with intimate strangers—friends, fellow artists, and members of Brooks’ global Queer community, as well as historical and contemporary figures like Marlene Dietrich, Max Beckmann, and Nick Jonas—these curious and emotionally charged compositions are imbued with longing, uncertainty, wry humor, sensuality, and remote desire. An homage to the power of the autonomous self, the works also challenge and reject notions of heteronomy while reflecting the growing disquiet and angst of our time. 

Featuring a diverse assemblage of influences such as Edvard Munch, Rainer Fetting, Markus Lüpertz, David Hockney, Marlene Dumas, Peter Doig, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Noah Davis, Brooks also displays a keen knowledge of art history and a highly individual sense of color. While they tease notions of linear narrative, these work remain, like each of us, intricate and perplexing, just beyond what is entirely comprehensible.

- Moremen Gallery