This is an exhibition that begins with a verse and ends with a poem: it unfolds on a stage composed of different scenes occupied by various elements.

Positioning

I see you repeating this

Unlike what happens in a modern exhibition, where the works are assumed to be autonomous, in Michele Gabriele’s exhibitions, the pieces operate almost like scenes from a fable. We are given some clues, elements that link them together, and we will have to try to relate them. Data, shortcuts, details. Nevertheless, the fable will never be told.

But how to reconstruct what was never built?

I warn you in the sweetest way

Two tritons, two sculptures with real elements, two abstract paintings, two possible bodies. This dual or repetitive structure replaces the unitary term of the artistic object with its capacity to affect or unite. Elements that combine in unique and personal ways in Michele’s defense of art as a space from which narratives can be constructed from only some elements—and not all—of that which is minimal; a space that requires reading, presence that completes and becomes once again an element of relation. For the past few years, his work has revolved around the relationship between the audience and these elements/works. In some of his proposals, even, the artworks act as spectators of the other works in the exhibition. In “I see you repeating this, I warn you in the sweetest way,” some of these elements or characters gaze with nostalgia at other pieces: they lean on, address, quote, hide. With these gestures, the artist allows the construction of a scene within the scene or a “Mise en abyme” that ends up absorbing the audience, turning them into an active element of his proposals. If the work is a spectator of itself, the audience becomes another element in the communication channel and takes on an independent role.

Science fiction as a tool

July 2nd

The use of an aesthetic related to science fiction is linked to a specific positioning within contemporary popular visual culture that involves assuming science fiction as a way to dream the narrative gaps it often leaves formally, in its own representation. When a movie ends or a fantasy book is closed, the viewer ends or closes these universes with their imagination. This narrative feature takes shape in Michele Gabriele’s work, offering us a space that throws us into an exercise of immersion that allows us to complete the story or the works with our own imagination.

Material resignification

Ególatra V, Ególatra VI

Two cars, palm trees, cables, rags, and mud. From the entrance, we can see two sculptures made from different materials. For the artist, these pieces are a reference to public or large-scale sculpture: a type of object that deals with a public and aesthetic experience that is outside of exhibition spaces; in public space. In this case, the exercise is reversed; the sculpture is made from public materials—a mixture of residues from the EACC’s warehouses, the Trashformaciones garage, and remains of palm trees from the roads between Castelló and Benicàssim—and is inserted into an interior space that allows for its care and attention.

Archetypal painting

Combi postura ogni volta, e lo capisco così

Much easier with you Fantasy literature and science fiction often refer to their own archetypes constructed through their genealogy.
Following this way of Michele Gabriele inserts a series of archetypes into “I see you repeating this, I warn you in the sweetest way,” which respond to those of art history. In one of the corridors of the EACC, we find two large paintings that function as a link to modern painting: the citation itself operates as another element to consider when entrusting this exhibition with the dimension of the tale or the story from a genealogical perspective.

A message in a bottle

Remains imprinted / Deforms perspective

Suspended in space, we find two sculptures constructed with materials from childhood’s repertoire: a set of plaster casts for sprained arms and legs that maintain their shape. “Remains imprinted / Deforms perspective” compile all the layers of the exhibition and suggest a way to understand the total artifact through an exercise of affective and material repair that points to the fusion of the two concepts: toward the materiality of the affective and the affectivity of materials that never lose their agency. These floating plaster casts function as supports for drawings and ephemeral signatures in a formal exercise of relational aesthetics and the need for individuals to leave a message, a sign, a signal, just as we did with plaster casts, on desks, or as Michele does throughout the entire exhibition.

Diegetic sound, the suspicion of the human

Bright Eyes’s / Persistence

At the back of the space, two sculptures take shape  concealment or hiding, hinting at two bodies under two duvet covers. The suspicion arises from feet sticking out, which for the first time alludes to the human appearance. In a diegetic manner, merging into the spectrum of elements to combine, fragments of songs and two voices humming them can be heard. The previous fantastical form dissolves into a moment of the experience.

— Carles Àngel Saurí, Mar Reykjavik