Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself – Miles Davis

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected by in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding – Steve Prefontaine

OTZ and Camel Art Space are pleased to announce Lonely Fire, a group exhibition of new work including visual artists Chris Burnside, Tania Cross, Nathan Gelgud, Sam Martineau, Ben Needham, Alisa Ochoa, Adam Taye, and James Woodward.

Borrowing its name from the Miles Davis track from Bitches Brew the exhibition will explore the concepts of the deification of the modern athlete, spirituality, local tradition, and the road to victory.

Historically, sports were organized to ready men for battle and were held in honor of local religious traditions. Some of the first Western games were foot races enacted within religious sanctuaries, which precipitated the Olympic Games and the modern sports industrial complex. The ascendancy of the individual through organized physical group and individual competition began within this framework and has never left our collective conscience.

Sports are still the greatest theater of live performance where local customs and factional interests are played out. Sports bring solidarity to diverse populations, unified behind a shared goal of winning and team identity. It’s in this context that the spectacle of human beings pitted against one another is at its greatest and yet most basic height.