NAVE VERMELHE | AD MINOLITI
Ad Minoliti is an Argentine artist who uses the language of painting to explore themes related to representation, and employs an abstract and subversive representation of the human body. Nave Vermelhe (Red Ship in Portuguese) is an installation composed by various panels physically or conceptually connected to each other, in which abstract forms are depicted. The panels are hung on an orange-painted wall, which, juxtaposed with the red floor, creates a jarring and alienating effect. As the title suggests, this artwork seems to abstract viewers from their reality, aiming to transport them, or rather, carry them as an abstract vessel, to another dimension.
The drawings graphic style of different panels has the typical aesthetic characteristics of 1950s pop art – intense and shocking colors, juxtaposed in different shades to create strong contrast. Some details are an exception: the eyes above the large yellow circle on the left are drawn in the typical Japanese manga style; also, the top central panel’s background is a mix of detailed elements drawn in a realistic and three-dimensional style, but still unrecognizable, it almost like a screen projecting a futuristic scene or another dimension, maybe an alien one.
The reference to pop art is purely aesthetic, as the content and subjects depicted are forms of all kinds, abstract and two-dimensional, carefully arranged to create a harmonious composition.
Despite being a fixed installation, Nave Vermelhe is a work full of movement: the bodies that resembling eyes, some better than others, observe and relate to each other, consequently leading the viewer’s gaze to move from one element to another. Moreover, the bottom panel and the one on the right are inclined, suggesting the peculiar possibility of folding the artwork upon itself. The bottom panel could also be seen as a drawbridge designed for ascending onto the artwork and entering it.
By moving within the exhibition space, it is possible to observe Nave Vermelhe through a porthole, a large circular hole applied to the wall positioned in front of the artwork. This interesting and evocative perspectives’ game is intended by the artist: two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality are combined, emphasizing the boundary that separates the viewer’s reality from the dimension recreated in this installation.
Ad Minoliti
Nave Vermelhe, 2020
Installation view with Alien 1 (Courtesy of Peres Projects, Berlin), Control Panel W3 and Flora Mutante. Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, 2020. Photo Bruno Lopes. ©
Ad Minoliti. Nave Vermelhe, 2020, installation view, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, 2020. Photo by Bruno Lopes. ©
12/07/2023