PRETTY PERV 2022

 

International Contemporary Art exhibition

September, 28th - October, 4th 2022

Concept by Art Curator Federica D'Avanzo

Don't think of an orchid. You will think of an orchid.
A simple and satisfying act of resistance, a mechanism that attacks proper knowledge to overturn the dictates of the relationship. The perverse thinking. Perversion as a modification of instinctive tendencies, abandonment of the faith, of the orthodox, of the normal. Interruption of innocence before its own fulfillment. A melancholy and intoxicating state that through the work of art declares a siege inviting pure aesthetic contemplation. The beauty, the subjectivity of the supreme kind of values. The resolution of conflict and disturbance, order and decorum. At the same time, the conflict, the turmoil, the chaos and the indecent. Perverse is the beauty at the time of the super-present, sparkling and elusive that forces the user to pure contemplation as an indefinable means of enjoyment. An emotional composition, made of delicate gestures and graceful bodies that join the wind for the tribal dance of the new day. An ecstatic shock that transforms us, the perverse thought as an experience. Aesthetic event that leads to the reflection of ideal primitiveness, "You have to change your life”, Rilke in front of an ancient torso of Apollo, perversion travels in the archetype of things, from which there is no point that he does not see life as such. "So we instinctively run after objects that can excite our passions, although they exercise impressions on us that often cost us restless nights and unhappy days; but men suffer more from a life without passions than from the suffering aroused by passions". With these words, Jean-Baptiste Du Bos describes the deep disturbances of the human soul, those that make the nights pass awake and that make the belly twist at the thought of something that stirs the imagination. Man is attracted to what he does not understand and what frightens him deeply fascinates him at the same time. Philosophers such as Kant over the years have studied how the concept of "sublime" is combined with art and Friedrich represented it in his paintings, which leave spectators and viewers fascinated and frightened at the same time. Every human perversion is justified by instinct and overcomes the fear that instils the idea of the forbidden and manages to go beyond the concept of danger itself. Man cannot help but pursue his deep cravings and desires, even though these ultimately lead to intrinsic suffering and despair. By nature, we are led to follow instincts and to satisfy our desires, however far they are from socially shared ethics and rationality, all in their intimacy show inclinations or behaviors that in everyday life in front of others do not let it leak out and this is part of the human spirit. The sight of fire is beautiful to the human eye, yet it burns. As well as the view of the glaciers or the open sea. They are fascinating and arouse deep emotions, yet they remain a danger for the man who does not know how to live with elements of this type that can harm his safety. This does not mean that he will begin to avoid them, but he will find himself more and more involved and fascinated by the force of nature and the beauty of danger. Perversion itself carries a series of taboos in which man feels stripped of his security and dignity, yet as Oscar Wilde wrote, "the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it”. Artists have always exercised their autonomy with deliberate acts of resistance to the expected, the reasonable, the moral. The recent history of art cites Joan Jonas, Carol Rama, Amalia Ulman, Camille Henrot, as authors with an undisciplined mind, whose precise and attractive gesture is also a way to establish themselves as authentic beings whose artistic product is perversion and existential will. What's my purpose, if I only do what makes sense? Why is my conscience more relevant than my instincts? Fresh, intoxicated and intoxicating, emotional landscapes, portraits of adolescent vivacity, here and now. M.A.D.S. ART GALLERY calls its artists to navigate unknown waters, to exercise their will, to let themselves go to the sublime, to experience that interrupted innocence that will inevitably make itself felt with a sigh, perhaps melancholy, perhaps perverse.