A Huge Smooth Object Draped in Blue Fabric Flying Over a Still Lake 2022

Curator: Owen Gent's "A Huge Smooth Object Draped in Blue Fabric Flying Over a Still Lake," created in 2022 using acrylics, offers a captivating enigma. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It's quite serene, isn't it? But also unsettling. The blue feels so cool, so calm, and then you have this massive, draped... thing. Like a giant secret. Curator: I agree. The use of blue here—almost monochromatic—invokes a sense of distance and detachment, but the object’s presence, its sheer size and impossible levitation, implies a hidden power dynamic. The fabric drapes, reminiscent of classical sculpture, ironically conceal, refusing access. Editor: You're right, that classical echo is there. Draped figures, traditionally gods or heroes...But here, what's underneath? Fear? Protection? There's such a potent tradition of veiling that permeates art and society – is this about uncovering, or about control through concealment? Curator: Exactly. And the landscape—that flat, still lake—amplifies the tension. It becomes a stage upon which the socio-political drama of revealing and concealing is enacted. It suggests the hidden histories lurking beneath seemingly calm surfaces. It is the very same surface that reflects that which remains unseen. Editor: The reflection definitely adds a psychological depth. What’s visible is literally mirrored by the hidden. This piece plays on the dualities: known/unknown, visible/invisible, absence/presence. This juxtaposition, amplified by the smoothness of the depicted fabrics is quite powerful. Curator: Gent’s work seems to echo the historical debates around representation, absence, and the politics of visibility. The ‘smooth object’ becomes a signifier for larger conversations about cultural amnesia, particularly regarding those intentionally written out of the historical record. Editor: For me, the image calls to mind old religious art traditions and reliquaries in which the cloths symbolize both absence, since the body is no longer present, but at the same time create a physical, tangible symbol for devotion, acting as the focal point. Curator: In this perspective, this painting underscores the power of visual metaphor to critique power structures and rewrite conventional narratives. I find that potent. Editor: And I'm struck by the long history of visual culture echoed and revised by Gent's surreal, somewhat ominous, yet quiet, gesture.