The Constellation of Hope by Alexander Beeching
8"x10" ($24) | 11"x14" ($60) | 16"x20" ($240) | 24"x30" ($1,200)
It’s almost anchors aweigh for 2017, and we’re seeking out art that will sail us into the New Year with a little celestial perspective.
Today’s edition is the latest in Alexander Beeching’s Constellation series, a set of imaginary constellations the artist has dreamed up and drawn into existence. Each constellation is painstakingly rendered in pencil, something Beeching describes as “a test of patience”. We’ve featured three other striking prints from this project, but today’s feels perhaps the most prescient.
Beeching’s interest in star maps was spurred on in part by their vulnerability to the power of perception. In this case, the stargazer sees a single luminous point in the sky, then another and another, linking them together by invisible thread into one imagined, incandescent form. But our subjectivity leaves other ways of seeing unexplored—it’s a lesson in opening our eyes to possibility.
A constellation is also all about interconnectivity, bridging the bright points around you until they take shape. History, science, and literature (for starters) spell out the next step—draw strength from the connections, use them to find your way. Ships have been guided through extraordinary adventures by the stars alone.
Is The Constellation of Hope a metaphor for togetherness, for power in numbers? Is it a reminder that the search for direction, both literal and metaphorical, might necessitate a new kind of thinking? In the interest of widening our ways of seeing, we won’t decide on any one answer. But we do know this edition begs another question: how does one find their way without hope?
We’ve all bemoaned the behemoth trash heap that 2016 turned out to be—now it’s time to get back on track. Batten down the hatches, but don’t forget: hope floats.
With art for everyone,
Jen Bekman + Team 20x200
