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THUS AND SO
Lei Xiang Gallery (2023 Art Taipei)
Taipei, Taiwan
In "Thus and so" Bjorn Calleja presents a series of works representative of his artistic research. Capturing the attention are the vibrant, incandescent colors that radiate to strike the viewer, transporting him before the spectacle of a tropical sunset. The pictorial works are distinguished by their richness of detail, requiring them to be observed from different distances so as to appreciate the hidden details.
In fact, at a certain distance we can grasp the main subject of the work, but a few inches away we realize that tiny beings inhabit the pictorial spaces and take possession of them, dancing in the shadows of the larger characters, each with its own story to tell. Unconcerned with what is happening around they carry out the most disparate activities undisturbed, not even bothered by the judgmental gaze of the observer, seeming ridiculous and doing absurd things.
Thinking about it, we would perhaps have the same impression if we observed ourselves human beings at a distance living our lives indifferent to our surroundings.
The characters would seem to represent a micro and macro cosmos of human beings and their characteristics, up close we discover more and more about subjectivity, from a distance we can only get a general idea, as if the small beings are part of a freer and incensed ego while the larger figures are regulated by a more severe super-ego.
The protagonists of the works are exaggerated, have faces and bodies decomposed, crumpled and distorted in a cubist manner, the anatomies convey grotesque emotions typical of human affairs.
In "Bacons and Broken Legs" there is a clear reference to Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon, the pose is re-proposed but in an ironic key, the grandiosity of the character has to reckon with the satirical spirit of the work, Napoleon rides an unbelievable horse and the crowd in front of him does not greet him with great enthusiasm.
In general, we can often find references to ancient works in Calleja's paintings, but translated into a language that is very close to that of animation, a linguistic and visual code within everyone's reach.
Anyone approaching the works in the exhibition can have a different key and immerse themselves in the different layers by going beyond the colorful and playful surface, opening a dialogue also emotional with the many characters who live inside the paintings and that in some way they are the artist himself.
Words by Alessia Terzaghi
Lei Xiang Gallery (2023 Art Taipei)
Taipei, Taiwan
In "Thus and so" Bjorn Calleja presents a series of works representative of his artistic research. Capturing the attention are the vibrant, incandescent colors that radiate to strike the viewer, transporting him before the spectacle of a tropical sunset. The pictorial works are distinguished by their richness of detail, requiring them to be observed from different distances so as to appreciate the hidden details.
In fact, at a certain distance we can grasp the main subject of the work, but a few inches away we realize that tiny beings inhabit the pictorial spaces and take possession of them, dancing in the shadows of the larger characters, each with its own story to tell. Unconcerned with what is happening around they carry out the most disparate activities undisturbed, not even bothered by the judgmental gaze of the observer, seeming ridiculous and doing absurd things.
Thinking about it, we would perhaps have the same impression if we observed ourselves human beings at a distance living our lives indifferent to our surroundings.
The characters would seem to represent a micro and macro cosmos of human beings and their characteristics, up close we discover more and more about subjectivity, from a distance we can only get a general idea, as if the small beings are part of a freer and incensed ego while the larger figures are regulated by a more severe super-ego.
The protagonists of the works are exaggerated, have faces and bodies decomposed, crumpled and distorted in a cubist manner, the anatomies convey grotesque emotions typical of human affairs.
In "Bacons and Broken Legs" there is a clear reference to Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon, the pose is re-proposed but in an ironic key, the grandiosity of the character has to reckon with the satirical spirit of the work, Napoleon rides an unbelievable horse and the crowd in front of him does not greet him with great enthusiasm.
In general, we can often find references to ancient works in Calleja's paintings, but translated into a language that is very close to that of animation, a linguistic and visual code within everyone's reach.
Anyone approaching the works in the exhibition can have a different key and immerse themselves in the different layers by going beyond the colorful and playful surface, opening a dialogue also emotional with the many characters who live inside the paintings and that in some way they are the artist himself.
Words by Alessia Terzaghi
© 2024
