10/16/2026
R. Sawan White, Time Dilation
Opening reception, Friday, October 16, 7-9pm
Artist Talk, Friday, October 16, 6:30-7pm
Exhibition runs through November 14, 2026
Artist Statement
Time is a tricky thing. We are surrounded by all types of ways to keep track of it and even save it, but it cannot be held or stored or even revisited. Time is the medium with which we build lives and relationships; measuring milestones by it. And for the most part we know that it passes, well, like clockwork. A minute is a minute, a second a second – the clock on my phone matches the clock on yours. Time Dilation has something to say about this. It is the phenomenon that the passage of time and its perception varies depending on the position and perspective of the observer. Albert Einstein had some things to say about this in his Theory of Relativity. I’m not going into a physics lesson here but the salient point is this – there are forces (such as speed and gravity) that can change the speed of time. For most of us, this slippage of varying gravitational pulls over our lifetime will be so minute it is undetectable – our clocks will always align with everyone else. So the physical science of it can only ever be an abstract concept to us. Lucky for me, I’m an abstract artist and this kind of thing is my happy place. I found myself thinking not about the physical perspective of the observers of Time, but the emotional, mental, or spiritual perspectives.
We have all experienced the feeling of time dragging on or moving at the speed of light. You only need to recall the feeling of being a child waiting for your birthday or school to get out for the summer. The days felt interminable. And now as an adult, there are days at work that simply feel like they will never end. Likewise vacation days fly by in a blur. The way in which we experience the speed of time can vary based on our mental or emotional position to it. That is Time Dilation from a different point of view.
Last year my only child went to college. That period of parenting was filled with Lasts and Firsts that set my head spinning and my heart aching. It was beautiful and exciting and terrifying all at once. Time behaved very strangely as some things retreated to memory in a flash and others lingered in a prominent spot in my mind. The days were long but the months were fast. It was such a stark reminder of the fickleness of Time.
This body of work reflects on these observations, how our concept of Time transforms given our circumstances, ages, experiences and a myriad of other factors. It is the gathering of moments, large and small, and changing the perspective from which they are observed. Present in many of the pieces are grid-like forms, like the grid of a calendar. Sometimes they are on the edges, barely seen colors peeking in; and sometimes they are dividing the surface into well defined spaces. Sometimes the days are huge and vivid and sometimes they quietly slip to the margins. The layering of patterns in the background recall layers of wallpaper on a wall – evidence of prior time hidden over and over all around. Each painting is a record of malleable time built in layers.
The fickleness of Time is reflected through the sometimes constrained and sometimes ethereal; sometimes bordering on representational and sometimes highly abstracted. Within the series pieces waver between imagery easily interpreted or deliberately ambiguous. We are not one thing and neither is Time. Some moments are a lifetime, a pivot point that is burned into our memory and muddles the past and future surrounding it into a fog. And some moments are merely a step on the path, forgotten in the banality.
There is only one constant with Time. It flows in only one direction; we cannot go back. We will all vary our positions at times, futilely hoping to speed it up or slow it down. That is the beauty and that is the heartache. Our identities and relationships are continually changing; and our lives are the build up of all the things gathered in our time here.
Bio
Born in 1978 in the United States of America, R. Sawan White started her career in England as a classically trained printmaker and painter. Her academic career began as a Provost Scholar at Virginia Commonwealth University; she then transferred to Loughborough University School of Art and Design graduating with a First Degree BA Honors in Printmaking in 2000. Her work has exhibited all over the world including New York City, London, Taiwan, New Zealand, Washington DC and Richmond, VA. Paintings by White can be found in private, corporate and academic collections throughout the world. Along with creating, White has spent the last 20 years lecturing and leading seminars on contemporary aesthetics, and art history and practice. She was a founding faculty member at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and guest speaker at numerous galleries, museums, universities and art leagues. She currently lives and works in New England.
