Michael Graeve: Forms Unseen

The opening reception which will take place at blank on the evening of Saturday 5th November 2016, starting from 8.30 pm, during the Notte delle Arti Contemporanee (Contemporary Arts Night) will mark Michael Graeve’s second solo exhibition for e/static. The very title of his first one – “Spatial Choreography” – held in 2010, clearly conveyed one of the distinctive traits of this Australian artist’s approach to art, his being both a painter and a maker/manipulator of sounds and noises: his excellent sense of space, and his ability to co-opt it into a system of signs which require to be experienced rather than simply observed. On that occasion, the components of the installation were meant to be searched for, indeed, by moving through space, and could be found anywhere, on the walls, on the floor, on the ceiling. Every now and then, the visitor would be surprised by the appearance of a composition of sounds and noises which subverted – or, to say the least, challenged – for a few minutes, any spatial certainty they may have acquired during their exploration of the exhibition area, while walking and looking all around.
Over these six years, something has changed, and this change is heralded right from the very title of this new project – though more allusively, compared to the descriptive precision of the one used back in 2010. This alteration is brought about chiefly by the addition of invisible elements, not only as far as the listening part is concerned – sounds and noises, and the silence in between – but also as far as the more plastic aspects are concerned, such as form and colour. This time, the empty parts, (apparently) devoid of form and colour, will also contribute towards the composition of a new ‘spatial choreography’, with the aim of conferring a different, albeit ephemeral, identity to space. Unseen – though heavily present and effective – lines, directions and, indeed, forms (visible or not), will take centre stage, along with colours, sounds, and apparently empty surfaces.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.