Ode to the West Wind

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Artists participating: Sokari Douglas Camp, Josef Fischnaller, Heide Hatry, Valerie Jaudon, Aaron Johnson, Dana Melamed, Dennis Oppenheim, Hamid Rahmanian, Rúrí, Kathy Ruttenberg, Kinki Texas, Barnaby Whitfield

In the dead of Winter, even February can see a temporary thaw. Such moment of relative warmth reminds us that, from the raw West Wind blowing across Chelsea from the Hudson, eventually come warmer breezes to usher in the rebirth the blossoming of a creative Spring.

In this, the final section of “Ode to the West Wind,” Shelley takes a remarkable turn, transforming the wind into a metaphor for his own art, the expressive capacity that drives “dead thoughts” like “withered leaves” over the universe, to “quicken a new birth”—that is, to quicken the coming of the Spring. Metaphorically, this Spring symbolizes the possibilities of the poetic faculties, and the powers of aesthetic expression-a guiding spirit of this new group show at Stux. Encompassing painting, photography, and sculpture, the works on view each seek in their own way to awaken the allusive imagination of the viewer, sparking inventive connections that will play through the gallery space, building a new fire, stoked by this wind.

Stefan Stux Gallery
530 West 25th Street
New York (NY) 10001 United States
Tel. +1 (212) 3521600
stux@stuxgallery.com
www.stuxgallery.com

Opening hours
Tuesday - Saturday
From 10am to 6pm and by appointment

Related images

  1. Hamid Rahmanian, A Hero's Execution, 2014, light box, 38 x 50 in (97 x 127 cm)
  2. Aaron Johnson, Ship of Fools, 2014, acrylic and socks on canvas, 71 x 88 in (180 x 224 cm)
  3. Hamid Rahmanian, Fereydoun Passing the River 2, 2014, light box, 38 x 50 in (97 x 127 cm)
  4. Barnaby Whitfield, Volcano! (like a flower in a frenzy?), 2013, pastel on paper, 16 by 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)
  5. Kathy Ruttenberg, Secret Source, 2014, ceramic, 16 x 10 x 5 in (41 x 25 x 13 cm)
  6. Josef Fischnaller, The Queen, 2013, c-print, acrylic, aluminium-dibond, 63 x 48 in (160 x 120 cm)