Sunday, October 9, 2016

DAY 2178 - Nacionalismo Domestico II



Nacionalismo Domestico II by Francisco Mateo Rodriguez



Maxima Seguridad by Francisco Mateo Rodriguez
Review by John Coulter

Francisco Mateo Rodriguez is a political and conceptual artist from Madrid.  Some of his best work examines public places and surveillance.  They address topics of borders:  where people can go, and who watches their movements and actions.  He questions the rules of social spaces, land and property. 

‘Máxima Seguridad’ highlights complacency in a surveillance society.  The toy normalizes security.  Children who grow up with security cameras as a constant, are less suspicious of being watched than those of a generation that saw the technology implemented.  A critical voice towards the surveillance state is rare in the art world and rare amongst mass media.  The wit with which Mateo’s messages are delivered is HD sharp. 


His complex projects confront important issues on privacy and being watched.  More artists should follow in Mateo’s footsteps.  Keep tuned to the Shark blog for more of Mateo’s art. 

Sunday, October 2, 2016

DAY 2171 - Low Tide

Painting by Andrew Piedilato

Review by John Coulter

Andrew Piedilato is a Brooklyn painter from Athens, Georgia.  His stylized landscapes depict shattered worlds consumed by a deluge.

Piedilato uses a unique vocabulary across his series of works.  He’s built a language that describes forms torn apart that the the viewer must reconstruct.  Crumbled columns and gnarled ropes are shown strewn about organically like arteries: as if some cataclysm had shattered the realm.  His works thematize entropy and break down organization.  Constructions are laid ruin in a bold graphic style similar to Hokusai or Mondrian.  The worlds are dense with a compositional rhythm that makes them squirm like a Thomas Hart Benton landscape. 

‘Sea Snail’  showcases broken architectural elements wrapped like a snail resting in a nest of pipes tossed amongst a strange white sea of bricks.  The bricks are used in an unfamiliar way in these irregular seascapes. 

In ‘Hull’  a ship is awash a cola colored sea with stained icebergs.  A neon sky feels natural in these worlds.  The subtle use of perspective and shadows, give the strange worlds a grounded sense of reality.  Yet the alienness rivals the Fantastic Planet. 

Piedilato’s surreal shipwrecks contend with Giorgio de Chirico’s gutsy forms.  Make sure to collect his work and visit his website.