Artist Statement

In Eternal Return, I present a world of memory and future. A place where we hold on to the past tightly in hopes of a deeper understanding of ourselves, our loved ones, and our lives, and where we look to the future, as fatalism, conjecture, hope, or mystery. In this show which blurs timelines, we are to determine what is inevitable, what can be changed, and what has already occurred.  

The work exhibited combines images of the past with the imagined future. Looking back at old photographs, childhood toys, an antique television, and family homes, the viewer 'returns' to the artist's memory while they recall their own past. 

We keep our cherished memories close and feel kinship with the nostalgia of others. These pieces point to that absorption, while also highlighting how nostalgia can manipulate us. Throughout the evolution of photography and image making, we have seen an enmeshment-like tangle of image, truth, and memory that must constantly be undone. We are deceived into believing recollection and distortion as truth, and not as a lens.  Looking forward, an abandoned mall, dilapidated grocery store, a destroyed highway. 

These could be around the corner today or exist in a post-apocalyptic future. Societies collapse, empires fall, history shows this repeatedly. As the viewer walks through the gallery, there is an eeriness that comes from looking at paintings of memories next to a decayed future. Displayed between these two bodies of work is the sole sculpture in the show, a small clay button with the word “END”. This work not so subtly indicates the cyclical nature of all things, along with the duality of our power and powerlessness; our individual choices which are controllable, and the uncontrollable nature of larger societal challenges and biological conditions. The button, after all, is nonfunctional.  

The title of this show refers to the philosophical concept of Eternal Return, which suggests that the same events will occur over and over again, and has been interpreted in both literal and metaphorical senses. That our collective future is doomed to be the same as all others have; that we will continue to return to our past and repeat our same actions. But it also has been used as a thought experiment to encourage living a life that you would be proud to repeat eternally. Through this show, I point to the ways this is animated in our lives. As we return to our memories and our longing for nostalgia, what do we gain from this revisiting? Do we learn, mourn, relish, or sit somewhere between? And through looking towards the future, how do we view our lives today? What do we consider inevitable and what can we change?

BIO

Cassandra Chalfant (b. 1994) is an artist living and working in Denver, CO. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting & Drawing and a minor in Political Science in 2016 from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Cassandra has lived across the United States throughout her life, and her art practice is informed by the varying landscapes she has seen in a regularly changing environment. Recent shows including Joey Goergen / Cassie Chalfant / Nickie Gunning at Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH; Not Dead Yet: Landscape Paintings at ArtGym Denver, Denver, CO; and So It Goes at Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY.

Statement of individual artworks

For Them: Painting of a polaroid and black and white photograph

The Highway: Painting of post-apocalyptic cityscape, looking down a highway  Stroudsburg, PA; Columbus Grove, OH: Painting of a home with a projected image of a farm

The Fountain: Painting of an abandoned mall with a fountain

Color TV: Painting of the first commercially available Color TV with a sunset on the screen

Objects in Space: Painting of personal objects - toys, notes, tickets, photos, jewelry - laid on a carpet

Light 1: Painting of a night seascape with the moon glowing

Grammy Chalfant’s House: Painting of the front yard of a Midwest ranch home

The Explorer: Painting of a dilapidated grocery store with light shining through a hole in the ceiling onto the floor

Button To End The World (Super Villain Tools): a clay sculpture of a button with the word ‘END’ carved on top