Susan Inglett Gallery is pleased to present Ernesto Caivano: Overland, an exhibition of drawings on view from 6 June through 19 July, 2024. An opening reception will be held from 6 – 8 pm on 6 June 2024.
Celestial bodies, flourishing vegetation, and towering formations of stone, rendered exquisitely in ink and graphite, welcome the viewer into Ernesto Caivano’s simultaneously foreign and familiar world. Acting as the mise en scène for an overarching story of a star-crossed man-and-woman-turned-knight-and-princess, and the opposing, yet intertwined, forces of nature and technology, Caivano acts as the visual narrator of this tale, rich with references and alive with action. Evidence of the lover's attempts at communication across time and space is found in the alteration of their environments, building elaborate stone sculptures, or coding messages into the petals of a flower. Caivano closely inspects these smaller details of a world, expanding in all directions by inventing histories, languages, and ecosystems to populate his realm. The drawings provide the viewer with an abundance of worldbuilding, functioning as a field guide or documentation of the natural phenomena to be found there. Reality-adjacent, yet singularly speculative, Caivano charges the narrative, and consequently the drawings, with an uncanny familiarity.
Cairns of stone balance precariously, seeming to defy our laws of physics, and the vibrant facets of violet, cobalt, and crimson make sparse appearances throughout an otherwise monochrome depiction of this world. The monolithic structures point skyward, Caivano’s upward gaze depicting celestial phenomena in circular compositions as if observed through a telescope. Color is more boldly wielded in the form of stratified landscapes, spreading towards the horizon, while terrestrial ecology takes shape as intricate floral blooms and botanical anomalies, trading herbaceous vein networks for geometric, coded pathways. The otherness of these elements, however disparate in their subject matter, creates a visual and thematic unity that clues and elaborates the ongoing narrative After the Woods. The transforming lovers use their cairns and codes to communicate, asserting their presence, love, and bond in this tale of separation and reunion. Caivano uses drawing and this modern-day mythogenesis as a way for the viewer to contemplate time, erosion, structures, impermanence, and the cosmos both within and without.
ERNESTO CAIVANO (b. 1972 Madrid, Spain) builds an intricate, dynamic world in ink containing enigmatic landscapes, characters, and happenings that evade traditional narrative structures. His diverse inspirations span eras and genres, from Albrecht Dürer and the Flemish Renaissance to nanotechnology and Modernism. Symbols are cryptic, flora and fauna are at once alien and anthropomorphic, and the combination of mystic and scientific imagery creates an atmosphere of the uncanny. After The Woods is an ever-evolving body of work that is an ongoing exploration of this world. In it, Caivano summons familiar tropes such as knights, maidens, and love’s inevitable triumph–and yet, set against his exquisitely worked backdrop teeming with evocative references, these vignettes take on an otherworldly quality. Caivano slows his narrative every so often to survey specific aspects of this world in microscopic detail. These manifest as collections of drawings that depict his world’s cosmos, plant life, geology, systems of language, and lore. Caivano’s solo exhibitions include Settlements, Pioneer Works, New York (2013); Echo Gambit, White Cube, London (2008); and After the Woods: A Selection, MoMA PS1, New York (2004). Major group exhibitions include Storylines, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); No New Thing Under The Sun, Royal Academy of the Arts, London (2010); Kupferstichkabinett: Between Thought and Action, White Cube, London (2010); Like Color in Pictures, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2007); On Line, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2005); and Whitney Biennial 2004, Whitney Museum, New York (2004). His work is in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark, among others.
