Installation Space

John Early: Terra Firma

June 10th-July 22nd

Opening Reception from 6-9pm on June 10th

John Early’s new site-specific installation, Terra Firma, stems from a recent documentary chronicling the career of BMX rider Mat Hoffman, who has devoted much of the past twenty-five years to launching himself and his bike to unbelievable and unprecedented heights. Using as a frame of reference Hoffman’s relentless pursuit to push the bounds of gravity, Terra Firma explores the condition of humankind’s earthbound existence and the desire to transcend and push beyond that limit.

The sculptural component of Terra Firma loosely references the homemade ramps constructed by Hoffman in his backyard in Oklahoma and serves to draw the viewer’s gaze upward toward the window, thus making a connection between the earth and the sky. The installation also includes two audio tracks consisting of sounds referencing the terrestrial and the celestial, respectively. Each track is played simultaneously from opposing sides of the space such that while the sounds can be heard individually, they merge toward the center of the installation. Fittingly situated in a former chapel—a space where man once sought to commune with the transcendent—Terra Firma acknowledges the physical limits of human existence while pointing toward the incessant pull to escape beyond those bounds.