David Gumbs – Water and Dreams (2016), still from video
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Bio
David Gumbs was born in Guadeloupe in 1977. A multimedia artist, painter, photographer, and experimental video artist, he studied Interactive Multimedia Conception at Les Ateliers, L’ENSCI in Paris 2002, following his graduation from the Visual Arts school in Fort-de-France Martinique in 2001. His solo exhibitions include Hors-champ at 14°N61°W in Martinique and Somewhere in Paradise in Haïti, both in 2013, as well as Géographies Inconscientes at the Tropiques Atrium in Martinique. His most recent group show participation includes the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (2014) and Reflexions (2014) at the 14°N61°W contemporary art space in Martinique. Gumbs has participated in a number of artist residencies and his work has been featured in publications such as Frieze and ARC Magazine. He is currently participating in an art residency in China, sponsored by the Davidoff Art Initiative.
David Gumbs – Water and Dreams (2016), still from video
About the Work
To disappear into deep water or to disappear toward a far horizon, to become part of depth of infinity, such is the destiny of man that finds its image in the destiny of water.
Gaston Bachelard, Water and Dreams (1942)
“Water is considered as a crucial link between all species and living beings. Water’s energy unites continents, unites islands. In a sense as it is an electrical conductor, and a matter of bonding, it is conceived in this new video series as a gateway to dreams, to fantasy and to imagination. Inspired by the French Philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s studies in Water and Dreams, my personal interpretation of water is the magical bond that gives life and that connects the living. It is the substance that stores good or bad memories. On contact in can purify, cleanse, before sacred rituals, but it can also reveal the in-between state of consciousness where unsettled inner conflicts arise. As part of the natural balance in nature, water gives and takes life. In this video series, it depicts micro- and macroscopic universes of underlying memories. A recollection of transforming fluids where water is linked to fire, air and earth.”
David Gumbs – installation view of recent exhibition Unconscious Geographies at the Tropiques Atrium, Martinique (not in exhibition)
National Gallery of Jamaica Blog 