BFAPF VP Ann Shafer talks with Liz Faust, Catalyst Contemporary, about presenting the color woodcut series Doomscrolling by Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston
Catalyst Contemporary is a fine art gallery focusing on contemporary art that tells stories. Located in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood—the cultural heart of the city—Catalyst forges relationships between artists, collectors, and both creative and civic-minded individuals.
Catalyst Contemporary is pleased to present a selection of Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston’s Doomscrolling. Doomscrolling is comprised of eighteen color woodblock prints, which portray the extraordinary social upheaval began in May 2020 and continued through January 6, 2021, the day of the insurrection at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Using the oldest method of producing images in multiples, the artists carved 120 weathered and tagged sheets of reclaimed plywood from New York museums and storefronts that had been boarded up in anticipation of protests following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
Across eighteen prints, myriad images from news sources of scenes of Covid-19, Black Lives Matter protests, police brutality, key moments of the Trump era, and the storming and ransacking of the Capitol on January 6, are layered on one another, mimicking our fixation with scrolling on our phones. The idea of doomscrolling refers to a recently identified activity induced by disturbing current events, and is described as “the act of spending an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of negative news,” which many contend could be psychologically harmful.
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston, July 18, from the series Doomscrolling, 2020–21. Woodcut. Sheet: 57 ½ x 42 ¼ inches. Courtesy the artists and Petzel Gallery, New York.
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston. June 1 7:30pm, from the series Doomscrolling, 2020–21. Woodcut. Sheet: 57 ½ x 42 ¼ inches. Courtesy the artists and Petzel Gallery, New York.
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston. May 26 7pm, from the series Doomscrolling, 2020–21. Woodcut. Sheet: 57 ½ x 42 ¼ inches. Courtesy the artists and Petzel Gallery, New York.
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston. May 28, from the series Doomscrolling, 2020–21. Woodcut. Sheet: 23 ¼ x 35 ½ inches. Courtesy the artists and Petzel Gallery, New York.
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston working in the studio. Photo Credit: Adam Golfer
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston working in the studio. Photo Credit: Adam Golfer
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston working in the studio. Photo Credit: Adam Golfer
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston working in the studio. Photo Credit: Adam Golfer
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston working in the studio. Photo Credit: Adam Golfer