Robert Nava: Mythologies

21 sep 201919 okt 2019

Mythologies is solo exhibition by Robert Nava.

The archetype of Janus is at the core of entering Robert Nava’s practice, looking both backwards into the history of painting and simultaneously gazing into its future. Adopting key philosophies from the CoBrA movement (1948-1951) – intuition, spontaneity and experimentation as freedom, embodied in the un-schooled drawings created by children. Drawing inspiration from primitive art forms, with an emphasis on primitive as something genuine and positive. A manifest of complete freedom of color and form. A fascination for the mythical and folkloric. The symbols of pre-Christian civilizations and religions. In an interplay between the conscious and unconscious, Nava channels an ancient pictorial language that flows through us from the first cave paintings and into the present.

In his work, Nava engages both past and present in his own distinct manner. He clashes Sumerian, Mayan, Egyptian, Greek, Japanese and Roman mythology and symbolism with the mythology of popular culture, such as Jaws, Transformers, the backside of New York trucks, flamethrowers, private jets and jet-fueled, fully armed flying tigers! In writing it sounds eclectic, but in hard-core visceral painting it intuitively works if you dare to lose yourself in the paintings. Nava paints with a rare energy and courage, not everybody will be pleased.

In Mythologies Nava connects ritual, rhythm and mayhem. The eternal symbiotic battle between man and monster on canvas reflects the ongoing struggle in the studio between artist and canvas. In this sense, the mythology and duality of Janus is present in every work in the exhibition, the paintings are passageways – transformative tableaus that depict and embody the beginning and end of conflict.

Kilde: V1 Gallery