induction gallery is pleased to present its third exhibition with New York City-based artist Lou Neyland. titled same coin, the exhibition consists of new paintings and architectural interventions of the gallery space. 

“Fear no more the heat o' the sun / Nor the furious winter's rages” 

This is a funeral dirge from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, and a recurring motif in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. The song reframes death as a release from the burdens of life; not to be feared but welcomed. In Mrs. Dalloway, the quote connects two foil characters, Mrs. Dalloway, who is diligently fulfilling her role as a wife hosting a satisfactory dinner, and Septimus Smith, who is shell shocked from WW1 and seeking treatment. While the two characters are seemingly oppositional in social status, life expectations and experiences, they share many qualities, including lingering memories of unrequited, forbidden love that adds to their present existential insecurity. Throughout the day their thoughts run parallel. Death is a comforting relief as they navigate uncertainty and societal constraints. One ultimately chooses life while the other chooses death. 

The paintings in same coin were made during a historically cold New York City winter, and will be shown in the heat of summer in Los Angeles. I am told it was the coldest and snowiest winter in a decade. The farmer’s almanac predicts this summer to be hotter than average and drier than preferred. I am personally more afraid of the heat of the sun than the winter’s rages, though both are killers. At least 26 people died in New York City this winter during the freezing temperatures.