Filmed in the English Lake District, Exiles of the Shattered Star depicts a seemingly tranquil, picturesque countryside showered with an asteroidal rain. Based in the dual realms of fiction and reality, this narrative balances on the periphery of fear and fascination. Evoking biblical as well as science-fiction imagery, Kelly Richardson created this work in response to the increased occurrence of cinematic depictions of Earth being ravaged by a natural—or in this case, an unnatural—catastrophe. Such images, as the artist has commented, “are not dissimilar to those created by earlier painters of the apocalyptic sublime.” These imaginative visions of how the world will end surely reflect an increasing collective anxiety about an uncertain future.

Label from Kelly Richardson: Legion, February 16–June 9, 2013