
TR Ericsson
A Still Life, 2024
Nicotine, alcoholic cocktail and metallic gold silkscreen ink on canvas
61 x 45.7 cm
24 x 18 in
24 x 18 in
Courtesy of the artist & Harlan Levey Projects
The cocktail paintings, infused with nicotine and alcohol, explore the complexity of filial bonds and generational impact through blown-up snapshots. Their tobacco-brown B sides reveal elements of the artist's archive,...
The cocktail paintings, infused with nicotine and alcohol, explore the complexity of filial bonds and generational impact through blown-up snapshots. Their tobacco-brown B sides reveal elements of the artist's archive, blending literature, philosophy, and intimate confession.
“And where are you left now? In the dining room, at the table, a Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail within easy reach, the ice melting in the glass, a lit and smoldering cigarette burning in the ashtray. What are you thinking? Or not thinking? It’s late. The room is bathed in a dim, golden light. You’re alone. Whoever else is there is asleep. It’s too late to call anyone on the phone. The TV’s not on. The birds aren’t out yet. It’s completely silent. You lift the cigarette from the ashtray, the burning tobacco when you inhale makes a loud singe. The ice rattling in your glass as you take a drink also sounds louder than it should. Here you are. Again. You lift the glass and cigarette up and down by turns, repetitively, like you’re a clock measuring time. It’s another sleepless night and you’re caught in a loop with the same familiar thoughts circling around in your head. And you feel like it will never end. Until one day, suddenly, it does. It’s all over. The clock stops. It’s over for you. But your end is not its end. This is all still going on somewhere in some other mind and manner of living and way of measuring time. And it’s as late there, for them, as it was for you and is as silent and golden and seemingly unrelenting.”
This work was made in Painesville, OH and Brooklyn, NY and exhibited at OFFSCREEN in Paris, France in October 2024.
“And where are you left now? In the dining room, at the table, a Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail within easy reach, the ice melting in the glass, a lit and smoldering cigarette burning in the ashtray. What are you thinking? Or not thinking? It’s late. The room is bathed in a dim, golden light. You’re alone. Whoever else is there is asleep. It’s too late to call anyone on the phone. The TV’s not on. The birds aren’t out yet. It’s completely silent. You lift the cigarette from the ashtray, the burning tobacco when you inhale makes a loud singe. The ice rattling in your glass as you take a drink also sounds louder than it should. Here you are. Again. You lift the glass and cigarette up and down by turns, repetitively, like you’re a clock measuring time. It’s another sleepless night and you’re caught in a loop with the same familiar thoughts circling around in your head. And you feel like it will never end. Until one day, suddenly, it does. It’s all over. The clock stops. It’s over for you. But your end is not its end. This is all still going on somewhere in some other mind and manner of living and way of measuring time. And it’s as late there, for them, as it was for you and is as silent and golden and seemingly unrelenting.”
This work was made in Painesville, OH and Brooklyn, NY and exhibited at OFFSCREEN in Paris, France in October 2024.
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