Nicholas Hertz: On a clear day I can see forever

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Nicholas Hertz, "On a clear day I can see forever," 2022

On a clear day I can see forever is an invitation to question the relationship between documentation and representation. Through this exhibition, the viewer is situated in parallel with my gaze, as I recontextualize moments of my lived experience. In these dissected frames, spaces like the backseat of an Uber, a motel room ceiling, and a Berlin flat become anthropomorphized. Conversely, elements of the body within these spaces become objectified and foreign. Evidence of digital interference hints at the negotiation between objective reality, and subjective experience. The work challenges the perception of our physical surroundings through digital manipulation. This erodes the viewer’s confidence in reality, forcing them to examine the built world around them. Utilizing a fragmented gaze, the work calls on the viewer to play an active role in interpreting a subjective reality.

The viewer is asked to consider the relationship we share with the environments we inhabit, and the ways in which we ascribe experiences and emotions to those spaces. How can the reality of our lived experiences, filled with moments of love, desire, shame, and self-discovery, be accurately documented and represented?

On a clear day I can see forever is a presentation of the research and visual material created during the 2021-2022 Emerging Artist Residency at SNAP.

Nicholas Hertz (he/they) is a queer white-settler artist based Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Their practice explores the space between shame and desire, through the objectification of the queer body and the anthropomorphizing of environments. In 2021, they were selected to participate in the Emerging Artist in Residence program at SNAP, the RBC Emerging Artist Project through The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts and the Love Lab residency at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.