On Stellar Rays is pleased to present Tommy Hartung’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, Jinns. A new video, entitled King Solomon’s Mines, will be presented alongside a series of new sculptures.

Closely related to Hartung’s recent videos THE BIBLE and The Lesser Key of Solomon, King Solomon’s Mines further explores the deep-rooted influence of Abrahamic religions in contemporary thinking and notions of the foreign. Central to Hartung’s new work is the mythology of King Solomon, and tales of his coveted riches, as well as exoticized views of the Middle East and the Northern Sahara.

An installation of figurative sculptures represents ‘jinns,’ or demons. The Testament of Solomon, a pseudepigraphical text dated from the First Century, describes Solomon’s conjuring of demons to build the Temple of Jerusalem and his kingdom. Jinns have captured the imagination of followers of Christianity, Islam, and Judiasm alike; their characteristics often corresponding to wider-held prejudices that encourage ethnic, racial, or religious rifts.

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