JAVIER CALLEJA: ONE TRUE TREE FOR...
Almine Rech New York is pleased to announce One true tree for..., Javier Calleja's fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.
November 8 – December 14, 2024
Depicting subjects, the conceptual offspring of the artist himself, Calleja’s figures demand attention. Characters stand before us with an enigmatic air; their narratives seemingly frozen yet filled with colorful clues that spill out across flat surfaces and often materialize as sculptural mayhem throughout the gallery. Adorned with phrases and accessories, the figures maintain bold expressions that are captivating, particularly enhanced in their bulbous eyes and wry smiles.
A majority of Calleja’s subjects deliver a variety of smiles. Displaying an air of gaiety, mystery, or mischief, the smile spans across the art history of paintings. Smiling subjects, once quite rare in art, are epitomized by the Mona Lisa and her ambiguously close-lipped smile. While Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa may not directly connect to Calleja’s studio practice, this masterpiece and Calleja's multimedia oeuvre share a common thread: They cause an amusing relationship between the passive, inanimate artwork and the active, engaging viewer.
It is well established that Calleja has many art historical inspirations, but he often insists that there are too many to list. He favors the visual simplicities that carry complexities in practice and content. These inspirations travel across time and geographies, from the Superflat movement to the Surrealism of René Magritte to American icons such as Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, and Andy Warhol. Visual pleasure is found in this art. Consider and compare Warhol’s Thirty are Better than One (1963), a large painting repeating the Mona Lisa, with Calleja’s own complex production. The multiplicity, repetition, scale, and use of popular culture act as a visual takeover. Both take on the “more is more” philosophy in life.
The grouping of works, over a year in development, signals a thematic return to nature. The personification of natural elements has deep roots in art history, tracing back millennia and spanning multiple cultures, as exemplified by Botticelli’s allegorical Primavera. The sprouting greenery, blossoms, and fruit suggest the arrival of a new season, and metaphorically, a new phase in the artist's creative evolution.