Gallery Walk-through | Peter Cochrane: The Magician Longs to See
January 20–April 13, 2024
Gallery Walk-through: Saturday, January 20, 1 PM, free
In The Magician Longs to See, Peter Cochrane presents an alchemical tale about the natural world and humanity, using stories of life, death, and the human desire to preserve. Cochrane draws inspiration from indigenous plants in his home state of California and from the Athenaeum’s own botanical archives. Darkroom prints and abstractions of roses, pine cones, and other local plantings recreate traces of life that once lived in and around the library, including the Torrey pine that stood as a sentinel for the building’s entrance, and climbing roses proposed by Kate Sessions for a 1921 garden renovation. Cochrane’s interest in horticultural and photographic histories also considers the optical manifestation of the alchemical pursuit—the transformation of lead into gold—through which, working with analog photographic processes, metals, and translations, the artist explores the materiality of elements across humanity’s attempts at preservation.
