Wanderlust is a group exhibition that explores the themes of walking, journeys, and pilgrimages. Inspired by the High Line as an ambulatory space experienced most naturally in motion, Wanderlust extends the tradition of Conceptual art wherein the act of walking served as an inspiration for many artists who explored life both in the urban context and in an ambivalent confrontation with nature.
On the High Line, itself an urban promenade that combines nature and architecture, the act of walking is both celebrated and taken for granted. Wanderlust invites viewers to remember the many implications of the journeys and walks they take every day, placing them within a secular tradition that expands beyond art into both everyday life and our shared cultural histories.
Matt Johnson (b. 1978, United States) makes sculptures inspired by everyday objects, which become humorously absurd when the artist relieves them of their original functions. For Wanderlust, Johnson creates Untitled (Swan), a new sculpture derived from the artist’s doodles in a sketch book, then bent from an original rail track from the High Line. The sculpture’s sinuous shapes and curves twist around to create a three-dimensional drawing in space. The use of the original rail track pays homage to the High Line’s history as a means of transportation along Manhattan’s West Side.