Artists: Isabel Alonso Vega, DUSKMANN, Andrea Galvani, Sali Muller, Mareo Rodriguez, Alessandro Simonini
Exhibition title: Strings. Light And Vision
Curated by: Maria Abramenko
Venue: White Noise Gallery, Rome, Italy
Date: September 28 – October 26, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and White Noise Gallery, Rome
God’s first creature, which was light.
(Sir Francis Bacon)
Darkness, neon lights and science are the starting points at the heart of STRINGS. LIGHT AND VISION, a group show curated by Maria Abramenko. The exhibition is entirely devoted to investigate the possible interactions between the different elements. Starting from September 28th until October 26th at White Noise Gallery, six internationally renowned artists will present their works, all linked by their constant hovering between scientific rigour and pure empathy.
Isabel Alonso Vega, DUSKMANN, Andrea Galvani, Sali Muller, Mareo Rodriguez, and Alessandro Simonini will distort the space perception through luminescent artworks, appearing like unexpected questions in the dark.
As stated by Carlo Rovelli, quantum mechanics and experiments with particles have taught us that the world is a continuous, restless swarming of things, a continuous coming to light and disappearance of ephemeral entities. Ours is a world of happenings, not of things.
STRINGS. LIGHT AND VISION is intent to investigate light as an event a nd to explore the different ways artists have used it as a medium.
The path starts with the work of Alessandro Simonini . INRI is a neon tetragram putting together two deliberately opposed interpretations: the canonical religious definition Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews), linked to the biblical account of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the esoteric meaning Igne Natura Renovatur Integra (Through fire, nature is reborn whole). For its double nature INRI can be seen as an artwork investigating both spiritual and alchemic trasmutation. If electricity represents post-modern fire, and fire is the origin of all things, neon signs are the symbolic containers of a new Universe.
Andrea Galvani presents a glowing landscape -both abstract and physical- describing the engine that powers the stars. His cosmic equations, similar to a starry night sky, represent a guide for land navigation. A cloud of numbers where mathematics appears as a hyper-object, the Universe, summoned and summarized.
The art collective DUSKMANN plays with the conflict between order and chaos, creating an unpublished artwork. The universe is a balanced structure, created from a supposed random event. The collective approaches science as a tool for metaphorical research and, moved by the need to understand the most invisible mechanisms like the influence and the interaction between elements, tries to create a scientific method to explore the human soul.
Isabel Alonso Vega presents her minimalist alchemy, enclosed into plexiglass cases. Overlaid gold coats become sculptural elements thanks to the presence of light. When passing through and filling them, it creates an ephemeral illusion.
Mareo Rodriguez investigates matter as a form of light condensation and questions its process of transformation and expansion of energy through time. M.E.L.T.S. is an artwork clarified by its own title: MATTER ENERGY SPACE LIGHT TIME.
Sali Muller with her concept art researches the role of human being compared to himself and his own environment. The role of darkness represents a dimension of natural alienation from the image of nature and ourselves.
The exhibition STRINGS. LIGHT AND VISION r ecounting the history of a physical phenomenon drives us towards a psychological abstraction, existing in various forms in all the aspects of our lives. Light is the first thing we see when opening our eyes as new-borns; a timeless moment where identity and memory are not yet defined.
