‘I’ve been trying to rediscover the secrets of the world itself.’ Enrique Martinez Celaya’s first solo show at New York’s Jack Shainman Gallery opened last week. This new collection of works by the painter, sculptor, poet and installation artist is split into two parts: Empires: Sea and Empires: Land.
In this collection, ‘land’ is a metaphor for what is known, or imagined to be knowable, it is a site of familiarity and destination. ‘Sea’ is seen as a substantially secretive and mysterious notion.
The Cuban artist blends reality, fantasy and memory to create semi-autobiographical and resonantly universal worlds. This blend is an integral aid to his exploration of the dynamics of human will and restraint. For The Fight For Air (2012), Celaya sculpts a life-sized bronze human character. Through his bumpy, textured chest run several sticks and on his left shoulder, a tiny bronze lion creeps towards his ear. On his right shoulder, a rabbit shuffles towards his other ear. Both seemed to be attempting to have words with him.
Continuing this theme, Empires: Sea and Empires: Land are located in two different Jack Shainman gallery spaces. Despite this, they are not to be thought of as totally separate exhibitions. The Empire series compromises an inherently interconnected group of works that are revealed, hidden or undermined by each other.
In Empires: Sea, a repeated motif is the image of a silky looking skate fish. In The Deeper Life, a very smooth-backed model of a sting-ray sits atop a mirrored, rectangular box. The mirror reflects the thoroughly resistant and secretive nature of the sea: it reveals very little about the fish. Conversely, in Empires: Land, is the sculpture The Land. The imagery plastered onto this sculpture is evocative of a weathered scrapbook or a commemorative tea-towel. The little squared images within the rectangular sheet-like sculpture create a tension between the familiarity of the land and it’s homogeneousness.
In both galleries we see Celaya exploring the dynamics of human will navigating each world, Land or Sea, whether it is a familiar or secretive one, Celaya shows both are still resolutely murky, and resistant.
Enrique Martínez Celaya is showing at Jack Shainman until 24 October
