An ominous and enveloping cloak of ash shrouds Roman Stachurki’s exhibition Second Nature. Second Nature is first in Stachurski’s pair of exhibitions that will show at Canberra Contemporary Art Space in Manuka over from 8th to the 19th of May. Concerned with the future of planet earth, this sculptural installation explores a dark and forbidding possible reality.

Stachurski says that his works reflect his interest in “the current state of the planet and civilization, particularly the consumerist culture of mankind and the modernizing world.” Themes of the terrestrial and the possibility of decay are expressed in Second Nature, which opens on Wednesday 8th May. A mixture of static and kinetic sculptures feature in an ash covered gallery space that transforms and transports the viewer into Stachurski’s own vision of the future.

Second Future, Stachurski’s second exhibition opening Wednesday 15th of May is set in a far more traditional gallery setting with plain white walls and clean floors. However, themes of a grim and frightening future persist. The influence of science fiction on both Second Nature and Second Future is evident with the artist acknowledging the influence of sci-fi author Phillip K Dick on his work. Whether or not one subscribes to such a bleak outlook of the future, it is fascinating to see how Stachurski conjures such an alarming experience of the future.
Words by Louise Cummins

SECOND NATURE
8-14 May
opening 6pm Wednesday 8 May  
a sculptural installation by Roman Stachurski 

SECOND FUTURE
15-19 May
opening 6pm Wednesday 15 May
a sculptural installation by Roaman Stachurski