For his exhibition at CASSTL Vedran Kopljar presents a series of New Teachings. These works are a meditation on images and signs that appear to signify something but in which the signified seems muddled, unclear or not to be found. The images and signs that are used have been sourced from collected material, the artist’s drawings or were made at the moment of painting. These works can be seen as an inquiry into the role of unknowing and framing in the cultivation of meaning; whereby painting functions as a didactic model edifying the experience of unknowing. These teachings are a practice of chasing unknowing, fundamented by not reading “The Cloud of Unknowing”.
Excerpt from “The Cloud of Unknowing”:
“I CHARGE and beg you, with all the strength and power
that love can bring to bear, that whoever you may be who
possess this book (perhaps you own it, or are keeping it,
carrying it, or borrowing it) you should, quite freely and of
set purpose, neither read, write, or mention it to anyone,
nor allow it to be read, written, or mentioned by anyone
unless…”
Vedran Kopljar decided to stop reading at this point for the sake of unknowing.
(1) The Cloud Of Unkowing. Translated by Clifton Wolters. London: Penguin, 1961, 43.