www.patrickjoust.com

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Mamiya C330 S and Sekor 55mm f/4.5

Christopher Thompson (British Artist, born 1969)

"The Surrealist's House (Night)", 2025.

Oil on Canvas, 20 × 16 inches.

The Oceanian (Sea Nymph)

Cactus in Oaxaca

Zentralgestirne (…des letzten Menschen) Pt.II/III

film-photograph on baryte print

60x40cm

Edition 05+03AP

2025

„ suddenly the three mock suns united in one, and plunged into the sea. A few seconds afterwards, a deafening watery sound came up with awful peal from the spot where they had disappeared. (…) it appeared as if suddenly the motion of earth was revealed to us–as if no longer we were ruled by ancient laws, but were turned adrift in an unknown region of space. Many cried aloud, that these were no meteors, but globes of burning matter, which had set fire to the earth, and caused the vast cauldron at our feet to bubble up with its measureless waves.“

(Mary Shelley The Last Man 1826 p. 487)

The body of work „Zentralgestirne“  is a photographic reflection of Mary Shelleys novel „The last man“ which was released in 1826 representing late romanticism while at the same time pioneering apocalyptic science-fiction. The story of Verney as last living human being on an earth shaken by plagues and natural catastrophes can also be interpreted as literary anticipation of current thought models regarding posthumanity. In midst the description of rising apocalypse as result of a gigantic mesh of nonhuman rejections lies the general questionning of human sovereignty. The motif of collective loss of human control is central to the three part novel and uncovers the absurdity of romantic discourses and conceptions of dominating nature in the early 19th century. While in the scenery above Verney as a human spectator is watching three sunlike meteors from top of the dover cliffs the series „Zentralgestirne“ is multiplying the sun itself.

Moonlight Lycanthrope