Introduction
This could be a perfect title to describe the exhibition presented to us on July 16th at Serra de Daró, at the Enlace Art in Progress headquarters. Since his arrival, he hasn’t stopped working. Now, with the assistance of the expert in casting, Rodolfo Buchhass, he is finalizing a large-scale piece where, drawing from his childhood memories of workers in a large factory near his home and taking the advertising poster of that factory as a starting point, he presents an allegory formed by different characters working on the same plane.
At first glance, it is overwhelming. Its four meters in height and almost seven in length are impossible to capture in a single glance, while a plethora of sensual bodies demands our attention in a composition where nothing is left to chance. It is somewhere between the Meninas and the Forge of Vulcan, yet with something that transports us to the world of Francis Bacon and his ‘Figure with Meat,’ with whom he shares more than one affinity. The diversity in the choice of models stands out, figures already used in some of the artist’s previous works, sculpting a tree as if it were a precious jewel to preserve, in need of all the attention and craftsmanship possible. Indeed, it is hard to find a more obvious metaphor asking us what future we want. Closing the composition, resembling a keystone, is an intriguing stool identical to the one found in the room where Kurt Cobain committed suicide, according to images declassified by the police. On it was a handwritten note with the phrase: ‘now you have many legs to stand on.’
Other trees, the Argentine rubber tree, named for its resemblance to the rubber-producing species, occupy much of the rest of the works selected for this first exhibition in our country. These are large-format drawings where Alexis Minkiewicz showcases his craftsmanship in the service of a proposal that captures some of the rubber trees found in Buenos Aires, where eroticism, humanity, or the passage of time intertwine with their majesty. The exhibition is completed by visions of his studio resembling vanitas, where detail won’t be the only surprise for the visitors. New art for new times.
