Clare Toms - Parallel

About

Parallel is an exhibition of new paintings by Clare Toms exploring the idea of parallels in energy states: a physical being exists at the same time as the nonphysical, the corporeal alongside an ethereal, intangible consciousness. This exhibition will run from Nov 14th - Dec 6th and will coincide with Abigail Goldman's solo show, Everyday Animals and David Stoupakis' solo show Pendulum . The works contemplate the parallel of death as both final and not at all final: the body may die, but the soul moves on. Love and memories stay in the hearts and minds of those who remain, urging the contemplation of just what death is. Life can’t exist without it, and yet the richness of ´life´ that a soul can have separately from the myriad physical forms over eons of time leads one to question the very finality of death. The concept for this show started as a metaphysical musing of parallel universes, the notion that we are a simulation in a universe of infinite possibilities, that there is no death, as the soul continues on with an array of experiences once leaving the physical body, and in fact that the soul has a number of experiences even whilst in the physical body. Both elements make up who we are and exist in tandem. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic got more intense and the restrictions in Melbourne started to set in, the concept for the exhibition also began to turn inward. Toms found herself contemplating it from a new inward, personal way. She started to consider the parallels of the experience of humanity: some countries were in hard lockdown and others were still moving freely, yet the virus and its impacts are the same. Deaths and cases ramped up exponentially in some locations and not others. Individuals and nations accepted or denied the existence of the virus. She noted the parallel experiences of hearing about the rosy view of people learning new “iso-skills” as a novelty, yet in stark contrast, ​her husband lost a family member to this virus in Mexico, as have