David Fullarton
HENCEFORTH WE WILL REQUIRE NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS
(August 1-September 27, 2020)

*There will be no opening reception.  The show will open with our new hours: Thursday-Sunday 12-6pm.
*Face coverings must be worn in the gallery at all times.

A little under a year ago my last solo show opened at The Compound. Here is the opening paragraph of the artist statement that I wrote for that show: “As we plummet towards the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century the world has clearly gone insane. We are engulfed by avarice, intolerance and pointless suffering. Men who are too deluded to be left in charge of a functioning hair dryer now control entire countries and we are bombarded on a daily basis by unbearably grim news.”

A lot has happened since then, none of it good, and sadly that paragraph is even more applicable now than it was when I wrote it. I didn’t expect to be having another show so quickly, nor did I ever expect to include the phrase ‘face coverings must be worn” on a promo card. But that’s where we are right now. Most of the artwork for this show was created as I sheltered in place in the midst of a global pandemic and long overdue societal upheaval. These works continue my ongoing attempt to use humor as a way of providing some perspective on our atrocious situation. I hope their reflection of the ever-increasing absurdity of modern existence may offer a little relief as we struggle to cope with our current predicament. Finally, I’d like to dedicate this exhibition to my dad, John Fullarton, who died in May after contracting coronavirus in a nursing home in Edinburgh, Scotland. As he was fond of saying, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.