Featuring: Esao Andrews, Tara McPherson, Travis Louie, Natalie Shau, David Stoupakis, Camille Rose Garcia, Zoe Lacchei, Naoto Hattori, Prunelle, Silvia Idili, Andy Fluon, Paul Chatem, Ciou, Elena Rapa, Adam Wallacavage & Arash Radpour.
Inside Nostalghia, the show, undertakes to disprove the conception that death, darkness and the creatures of the unknown are fruits of the Devil, which reveal themselves just to scare us.
“Inside” as research of the soul, both living and dead, whether blessed or damned; “Nostalghia” as emblem of a new vision of the loss, that brings us to an analytical revision of the mourning. Nostalghia as reflection upon a system made of too easily broken relationships, unrepeatable though, that leads us inevitably to the unending and mad confrontation with our inner ghosts.
“Inside” as research of the soul, both living and dead, whether blessed or damned; “Nostalghia” as emblem of a new vision of the loss, that brings us to an analytical revision of the mourning. Nostalghia as reflection upon a system made of too easily broken relationships, unrepeatable though, that leads us inevitably to the unending and mad confrontation with our inner ghosts.
The sublime message that materializes in front of us is the consciousness that what really remains is the memory, which makes us immortals, releasing us from the attachment to our earthly life and those who have left us, from their spiritual life. The memory, whether buried or repressed, of who we have loved and are no more, drives us to embrace and accept new encounters as well as mankind in all its simplest and most unique details, giving us a chance to stop escaping the pain and to start looking inside ourselves. During the separation and the absence, people become more real than they used to be and this fantastic memory is so strong that it brings them back to life, leading our mind to believe that they are actually in front of us and we are therefore still able to portrait and paint them.
This eternal connection with our beloved ones pushes the subconscious to a never-ending research, which puts us inexorably in front of a question: what if it’s the “others” to consciously choose us as vehicle of transmission of their presence in our dimension? The strong need of an answer is noticeable in this particular aspect of a Surrealism stained with Noir and, without dropping its Pop features, starts an obscure but still ironic carousel of ghosts, filled with emotions.
Perfect is the description of this image given us by Tara McPherson with her playful, bizarre and multicoloured cross-section of the female figure, made of open hearts, extracted from their bodies like pieces of a puzzle. The past returns to light, as if it was emerging from an old photo album, in the black and white portraits of anthropomorphic animals dressed in period costumes, result of Travis Louie’s impressive pictorial technique, of evident Victorian inspiration. Essential is the symbolic, and extremely romantic, “key” that lays in the hands of the young and restless Esao Andrews who, with his faceless faces and submerged paradises, is metaphorically opening the imaginary gate of the inconnu, joining the guardians of a dark legacy.
The art works that follows inspire us to live today, tasting the flavour of yesterday, re-establishing codes and themes that have helped us to build our history. The three interpreters of this lyrical painting will be accompanied by a “voice” of artists who, like a song in unison, will personally give an homage to this event with a work that is going to represent their own interpretation of Nostalgia.
Alexandra Mazzanti and Karen N. Wikstrand
