Sean Landers - Around The World Alone

Around The World Alone

For his exhibition Around the World Alone at Friedrich Petzel Gallery in 2011, Landers once again returned to the lonely clown in the boat from his 1996 painting, Alone. He used his long-term fascination with the Golden Globe race of 1968 as a point of departure. This race was the first solo round-the-world yacht race, in which nine men embarked from England; the frontrunner decided the race was irrelevant and turned around at the last moment to continue on around the world a second time (Bernard Moitessier), one contestant threw himself into the ocean (Donald Crowhurst) and only one man completed the race (Robin Knox-Johnston). It is hard not to realize that Landers at any one time could be any of these contestants. The paintings included in Around the World Alone depict the solo-circumnavigating sailor-clown ranging in age from young boy to old man. Punctuated by contemplative scenes, the hero can be seen progressing in age as he battles the ferocious seas and storms in his seaworthy boat S.V. Monos.