33 Bond Gallery is proud to present Pangea before the sky fell, a new collection of graphite drawings by New York-based artist Jeremy Lawson. The fall exhibition will feature eight large pieces, including a triptych and two diptychs.

The look of the work is influenced by historical etchings and 19th century newspaper illustrations, an aesthetic that underscores the exhibitions attempt to grapple with the idea of memory. The drawings explore the premise that memories are little more that an ever-shifting collage of myth and corrupted recollection. With this in mind the work questions the ramifications of faith in our collectively fictionalized past as a model for judgment in the present.

Armed with a simple pencil, Lawson belies in the complexity of his subject through drawings that seem to swirl in a time of their own. The pieces range from mysterious, peaceful night skies to mirrored, tense, chaotic fight scenes. Each scene is set meticulously, the artist wielding the pencil like a rapier, fencing with the page, delivering captivating narratives.

Lawson’s mediation touches on questions both material and philosophical; confronting both the imagined self and the myth of community: “I heard someone say that your idea of yourself is simply a collection of memories that make up “you”, or your story…it’s also true that memories don’t really exist, that they are an act of creation, and the farther away you get from the “event”, the more that memory is irretrievably changed. So what is that collection made up of, and what does that mean for who we imagine ourselves to be?”

Jeremy Lawson graduated from Syracuse University in 2002 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.