Thu, Feb 19
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Semmes Gallery in the Fine Art Building at the University of the Incarnate Word
4301 Broadway
San Antonio, TX

This show sounds hardcore. One of the best descriptions of a show ever….

Apocalyptic Visions investigates the phenomenon of eschatological Apocalypticism in the context of millennialism. There is a renewed fascination throughout the culture with eschatology and particularly with regards to prophesies as found in the Apocalypse and in the writings of Nostradamus. These portentous writings have for centuries captivated the popular imagination and struck fear in the hearts of their believers. But at particular points in history there tends to be a precipitous rise in interest in eschatology. These periods occurred in the 3rd century, the 11th and again in the 15th and 16th centuries. As the 20th century approached, there was once again a heightened awareness of prophesy and a sense of immanent doom. Throughout the 20th century, as technology progressed, it seemed these end of the world prophesies were more plausible than ever. This century has been consumed with a pervasive sense that the world’s immanent destruction was at least possible, if not likely. As we enter the 21st century, the collective anxiety in the culture seems to be crystallizing once again. In popular culture, the date 2012 has assumed an oracular importantance as many profess their belief that this date marks the end of the world.

With all this apocalyptic anxiety in the zeitgeist, there has been a noticeable impact on popular perception and interpretation of geopolitical events. People’s eschatological concerns have begun to color their judgments of issues like history, terrorism, wars in the Middle East and South Asia, as well as Globalism in all its manifestations. Regardless of the veracity of these prophesies, they tend to be somewhat self-fulfilling if they are widely believed and people and societies are motivated by a sense of fatalism and impending doom.

The artists in this exhibit are not merely playing Chicken Little or necessarily preaching carpe diem. Rather, Alex Rubio and Graham Toms, are taking note of the importance of this iconology and mythology in the contemporary imagination and are using this theme as much more than simple prophetic literary illustration. While based on prophetic texts, the images are deployed as much as a metaphor to examine the phenomenon of millennialism and to critique its impact on the understanding of contemporary political and religious events. The paintings call on us to question our presumptions about the meaning of prophesies and to more self-awarely examine the moral, spiritual and political implications of an oversimplification of eschatological interpretation.

On display will be five large scale canvases by each of the two artists. Alex Rubio’s works are well known around these parts but there will be three pieces of Alex’s that will be debuted at this exhibit, including one painted expressly for this show. Graham Toms, a gifted artist in all medium, has created five large canvases for this exhibit and these are among the first important works in an ever expanding series that Graham is doing on the theme of Apocalypticism. Neither of these artists consulted with each other and each developed their ideas and approaches independently. But they have reached remarkably similar conceptual solutions in distinctly different styles. The paintings are appropriately grandiose, ambitions and fantastic as befits their cataclysmic subjects. The works are conceptually and visually challenging. The Apocalyptic Visions of Alex Rubio and Graham Toms are a feast for the eye, the mind and soul alike.

See you there…

Joseph Bravo
Curator of Apocalyptic Visions
February 19 – March 20, 2009

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