Many circumnavigators agree that the most torturous part of the journey is setting out. It is the knowledge of the trials to come and the painful close proximity to loved ones and home, the fact that home at this beginning stage is in fact the furthest point from home once the decision is made to undertake this, the world’s most physically and mentally taxing journey. One cannot change his mind and return without condemning one’s own life to cowardly shame and humiliation. When one commits to this undertaking they not only put their lives into the mercurial will of the sea, but their minds are turned over to the mercies and horrors of itself. It is this latter point that the circumnavigator fears. All the waves and wind in the seven seas contain not the power and horror of the dark corners of the human mind, the fear of life and the inherent lack thereof.

--Excerpt from Sea[sic], by Sean Landers, 1995, oil on canvas


Friedrich Petzel Gallery is located at 535 West 22nd Street New York, New York 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM. For further information, please contact the gallery at info@petzel.com, or call (212) 680-9467.