MIKAEL LO PRESTI: "Day After Day"
MIKAEL LO PRESTI
"Day After Day"
18.08.-16.09.2023 / PREVIEW: FRIDAY 18.08.2023 / 19.00 - 21.00
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There's a particular comfort in limitation. A relaxation derived from reduction of choice that eases the decision-making process. A solace that, within the rules and the boundaries set, breeds a kind of freedom.
Everything a painter has to say, wrote Manet in a letter, he can say with flowers, fruit, even clouds.
Dominic van den Boogerd, Great Temptations, 2018
Across the three gallery spaces, Mikael Lo Presti has included 29 still-life paintings of oranges, none larger than A4. The abundance and proximity sets an immediate reaction to compare and contrast the motif. To find the favorite that speaks closest to you- whole round plush orbs, slices in near perfect portions, erratic tops lopped off and strewn about, the perpetrating knife caught in the act or laying guilty to the side- is to sift through each imbued with their own mood. The butcher himself, nowhere to be seen, stands mimicking the sentiments on canvas or there was never an orange to begin with.
For those more versed in the genre, how many centuries of artists can you reference that have tackled the concept of fruit, or how many artistic tones can be sited? The background pink approaching Guston, the shadow and the subtle plane of a Morandi table, the cornucopia of Cezanne- if you are looking for these citations they are all there, but they are not the impetus, nor the most important takeaway.
Sometimes we act on impetus only later to understand the depth of where these decisions come from emotionally. For Lo Presti, having extracted the fertile subject matter from an insert in an earlier figurative painting, a daily routine of sculpting and handling the fruit begun. It was only after experiencing the residual smell on his hands did a deep realization occur, unlocking memories of his father and his ritualistic twisting of orange peels. A synchronized pain of loss and joy of memory ingrained with the notion of time passing. A familiar memento mori reminding us to enjoy the journey over the pursuit of goal.
It is also a good reminder that the most banal parts of life can be the most inspiring and decidedly where art first happens. Interspersed throughout each exhibition space are portraits of young men isolated in dream-like spaces. The anonymous age of the oranges interrupted by cell phones and motorbikes, a similar pause while the figures seem to be waiting. Waiting for someone to find them, or to accept them, or to listen to their stories.
- Mary Grace Wright
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Superfluous and non-verified notes on oranges from John McPhee's totem "Oranges", 1966.
- Oranges float.
- In Jamaica, people halve oranges, and clean floors with one half in each hand.
- Oranges grown on the south side of a tree are sweeter than oranges down on the east or west sides.
- Norwegian children like to remove the top of an orange, make a little hole, push a lump of sugar into it, and then suck out the juice.
- Oranges will not continue to ripen after they have been picked. "Tree-ripen" oranges are an advertisement.
- Oranges freeze at 28 degrees Fahrenheit / -2.2 Celsius
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Mikael Lo Presti (b. 1989, Södra Sandby, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include "It Flakes and it Fades", Heerz Tooya, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria (2023); "Dancing moths, Running dogs and Sun-dried cloth", STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway (2021); "Echoes of the Street Vendors", STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway; "A tree that will not rot", Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Germany (2017). Selected group exhibitions include "Before Tomorrow - Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years", Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2023); "Stranger than Fiction", Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, Sweden (2023); "Ups & Downs - 15 years of STANDARD (OSLO)", STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway (2020); Condo, Bureau, New York, USA (2019); Tegnebiennalen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway (2016); "Maleriets Letthet", Juniutstillingen, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway (2016); "Black Mountain: An Interdisciplinary Experiment", Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2015) amongst others.
STANDARD (BOOKS) published Lo Presti's first monograph in 2021. Lo Presti will open his first institutional solo at Stormen kunst/dájdda, Bodø, Norway in 2024.
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Photography Vegard Kleven and Carl Henrik Tillberg
