In the common imagination art galleries are places intended for a very restricted audience that does not include the younger generation. It is precisely for this reason that Plan X stands out in the national and international contemporary art scene, because it addresses a target never taken into consideration and does so through new platforms and languages.
Plan X was born in 2017 thanks to Marcello Polito and Nicolò Stabile (named in 2020 by Forbes in the list of 30 Under 30) with the aim of giving life to an unconventional and innovative art gallery based between Capri and Milan.
In these years the Milan gallery, in Via Marsala 7, has become a reference point for emerging artists and not whose art is not only a means of expression, but also a connection with the whole digital world, from social to NFT. Often the names involved deal with issues related to our contemporary world, but in a provocative way, with unusual materials and leading the viewer to reflect on what surrounds him.
This contemporary and disruptive approach can be found in “Cemento“, the solo exhibition of artists Pascal Möhlmann and Evgen Čopi Gorišek on show until Saturday 16 April.
The two artists analyze the concept of beauty by adopting different approaches: on the one hand we have the oil paintings by Möhlmann that mix a classic technique with contemporary themes, while on the other we find the humorous and cool works by Gorišek.
We at Collater.al went a little deeper and asked the artists a couple of questions. Read on to find out what they told us, and visit at Plan X to make sure you don’t miss “Cement.”
Pascal Möhlmann
Looking at your works we can see that you pay attention to the latest trends in fashion, from colors to accessories to style. One can say that the trends that characterize society and the younger generations are the main subject of your production. What is the aspect you want to focus on? Is there something you want to denounce/criticize?
Actually, you‘re wrong in assuming that trends and fashion are my main subject, but it‘s interesting that you do. I rather like to play with the huge role that styling and self-manifestation have come to play in our times. I connect this with the apocalyptic atmosphere and imagery of the world going down, as we get twittered on our phones 24/7 to each new disaster that is as much entertainment as it is something to really take seriously.
We want to dress our best and be seen as such, while the world is burning. I’m not judging, or, if I do, I definitely also include myself. Guilty as charged! At any rate, I like the contradiction of taking things, taking oneself seriously and not at all at the same time.
And of course, I do take painting, as a means of expression, very seriously.
My work caricatures this whole serious vs. not-serious theme by translating rather superficial subjects in a language of classical painting and thus adding a kind of heavy, old-fashioned, or better, timeless value to the idea of general cataclysm and us being dressed for the occasion.
In your opinion, nowadays, what should be the role of the artist?
As an artist, personally, I feel my most important role is directing attention on Beauty. I’ve always loved the notion of an artist’s blood, sweat and tears being the means by which people get to notice what is actually beautiful in all that surrounds them. For example, I personally started to realize how wonderful the male body actually looks only upon seeing a marble sculpture of an athlete, I think it was, in the Glyptothek in Munich. A very talented greek sculptor in antiquity was insane enough to reproduce and translate out of stone what all of us could see every day.
So by painting a subject in the rather elaborate, skilled and time-consuming way that I do, this subject becomes more a designated thing to look at, to contemplate.
To shortly get back to our world going down: the more we‘re confronted with continuing global misery, the more powerless most of us feel. The sheer dimension of it. In between, each thing of beauty that we find though, be it in nature, or man-made, from landscapes to music to Airmax, is a potential source of hope and faith. Might spark us to move our butts. You don‘t have to be religious or anything to acknowledge this power. Just keep your eyes and ears wide open.
Evgen Čopi Gorišek
Your art mixes different influences, some more contemporary and some more antique, with current themes. What do you want to tell with your artworks? What is the message you want to communicate to the viewer?
My works don’t have a specific message, I’m just painting things and people from everyday life. Mostly things that I really like (fashion and sports). Many times I watch movies or read some magazines and I see something that attracts me and I just decide to make a painting or a drawing out of that. Sometimes I see a random bizarre situation when I’m walking around the city which will inspire me to do a painting afterward. Those are things that surround me in my everyday life. I do like to use humor in my work as well, but the most important thing to me is about viewers communicating with my works that they decide whether those people with smiles are really happy or if they are just hiding something (sadness/anger..) behind those smiles.
In your opinion, nowadays, what should be the role of the artist?
That’s a good and a hard question to ask, because I think depends a lot on what kind of art is the artist doing and what kind of interests he has.
In my case, I try to make people smile when they look at my paintings with those childish painted faces that I do. And the most important thing to me is that when people look at my works that they try to imagine their story about the work so that they think about it and use some imagination as well. With few words, my role is to spread the smiles.
