Verne Dawson explores the "encoded knowledge" of ancient skies

Galerie Eva Presenhuber is presenting Hamlet’s Mill, the gallery’s seventh solo exhibition by the US-American artist Verne Dawson. The universe is a strange and mysterious place, operated by unseen clocks, with plans for its inhabitants that they could never predict. Sometimes a story tells itself. In 2005, I was sitting in the office of an art gallery in Toronto when the owner said I needed to see something. He pushed a slim volume across his desk: an artist’s book made by Verne Dawson to accompany his exhibition at Douglas Hyde Gallery, in Dublin. The images inside were compelling in ways that language couldn’t articulate. We whispered about how special these paintings were, feeling profoundly connected to an artist we’d never met. Now it’s twenty years later. I’m writing this press release for Verne’s exhibition at Eva Presenhuber, which includes paintings of Crystal Springs in Saluda, North Carolina, where he sometimes lives, and where I’