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Vitreous Humour
ALMA ZEVI, Venice
1 - 16 September 2018
Vitreous Humour is Christopher P. Green’s first solo
exhibition in Italy. Based around his nascent
interest in glass, Green will be showing a new piece
made from neon. This structure exists somewhere
between a drawing and a sculpture. In addition, a number
of the artist’s abstract paintings will
complement and contextualise this neon artwork, entitled
Mosca Volante.
Mosca Volante loosely depicts a human figure that
appears to float or fly through space. The line with
which the figure is depicted is almost childlike. This
pseudo-naïvety is then juxtaposed with the highly
technical workmanship of the neon. The result is an
uneasy narrative, a stylised oddity. From a formal
point of view, the figure links to iconic works of the
19th and 20th centuries. Most evidently, the pose
of the figure, frozen in space, recalls Yves Klein and
his seminal photomontage Leap into the Void
(1960), in which the artist staged a jump from the
second floor of a building. Additionally, Paul Klee
and Richard Artschwager’s works contain examples of
figures that seem to soar through space.
Finally, there is an undeniable connection with the
ecclesiastical, recalling the iconic motifs of flying
angels in paintings and sculptures throughout art
history.
Mosca Volante refers to an optical condition that
disturbs the field of vision with dark spots. While the
English name for this is ‘eye floater’, the Italian name
literally translates as ‘a flying fly’; surprising us
with absurd alliteration. The title of the exhibition,
Vitreous Humour, refers to the part of the eye where
these spots originate. This emphasises the artist’s dry
wit and interest in word play. Green’s neon
sculpture addresses the complex field of optics by
assigning a physical appearance to an eye floater,
depicting it as a human figure.
This exhibition also includes a series of Green’s
paintings made between 2015 -2018. Conceived in
groups or series, they often influence each other and
develop similar colours, forms, and content.
In this context, the motifs are repeated and
reinterpreted in a cyclical process of experimentation
and
production. Conversely, this methodology clashes with
the spontaneity of Green’s paintings. The only
elements that he defines beforehand are the format –
usually small – and the number of works within
a series. Through their reduced dimensions, the
paintings maintain a relationship with his works on
paper, and with the format of the reading book. Green
has a special connection with books and printed
matter. For over ten years he has collected examples of
these authored by others, as well as producing
examples in his own practice. This important aspect of
his work is further explored in his curated
intervention on display at Galleria
Giorgio Mastinu. This gallery, which specialises
in artist books, works
on paper, and ephemera, provides a fitting and rich
context for Green’s work.
All photos Enrico Fiorese courtesy ALMA ZEVI