STOWAWAY is pleased to present ‘The Guardians’, a solo show by Brooklyn based David Temchulla. The artist presents 8 digital frescos along with two neon wall works. Please join us for the opening reception Sunday, September 21st, 2025 from 1-5 pm.

The Guardians

I’ve heard there are these new kinds of bats that fly below the earth’s surface. Sometimes, if you stare at the ground long enough, you’ll see their silhouettes go by. An out of control little dark patch, darting around your toes. When they soar underneath you, they create a small vibration that travels up your spine. The kids outside have started playing hopscotch with the darting black dots. They drive cats crazy.

The bat’s wings are made of some sort of heat resistant stone. Sharp like obsidian, hard like gneiss, and smooth as a river stone. When they fly they aren’t quiet. Even when they speak, they make a gargling guttural sound. No one can sleep at night anymore. We’ve all become nocturnal.

They say these new underground bats can dive so deep into the earth’s surface that some, the ones that break through, have been spotted hanging right side up. Just standing on two feet, totally normal like. I think I saw one waiting at a bus stop once, had a briefcase and everything.

Others claim that the bats have only made it past the asthenosphere. That there is no way they can withstand the mantel’s sluggish heat, let alone the radioactive lava swamp of the outer core. That it’s all just a fantasy. Something to keep the dreams alive. Nothing can make it to the center. Nothing.

But, I think it’s only a matter of time before the bats arrive at the earth’s inner core. I mean, something has to make it. Make it to the center, that is.

­­— David Temchulla

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David Temchulla (b. 1987, Denver, CO) lives and works in New York, NY. He holds degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA), 2009 and New York University’s Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program (MPS), 2018. Temchulla’s work has been exhibited at CAMPO, Uruguay, 2019; Monaco Gallery, St. Louis, 2019; Mana Contemporary BSMT, 2019; and Superdutchess Gallery, New York, 2018. He is the co-founder of Putty’s Coronation, a nomadic art gallery in New York. Residencies include La Vallonea, Italy; Mana Contemporary New Media Residency, Jersey City; and Vermont Studio Center Residency Fellowship, Johnson.