The NYU Langone Art Gallery is pleased to present Victory Over the Sun, an art intervention by Monika Bravo that utilizes geometry and whimsical elements to create a sense of presence. April 2018
Monika Bravo is a multimedia artist who is known for creating elaborate sensory art experiences within architectural spaces through the use of animation, drawing, geometric forms, as well as color. Her aim is to produce an environment which is conducive to providing the viewers with a new and mesmerizing interaction with the space leading them to a new state of awareness.
The gallery, in this case, becomes the canvas for her art. Bravo entitled her piece Victory Over the Sun after the 1913 Russian Futurist opera for which, Kazimir Malevich—known as the father of abstract geometric art—designed the set and costumes. In this opera, he used geometric shapes such as cubes and spheres containing a variety of colors in order to provide a vocabulary of feeling as opposed to being representational. In other words, he conceived a new way of depicting art, and as he states in his text about the Suprematist art movement, bringing with these elements “...an altogether new and direct form of representation of the world of feeling.” Bravo draws from this set of signifiers to compose an opera of her own incorporating her own set of symbols and colors; however, in a similar way, her aim is to evoke feeling, an experience that transcends the space, the geometry, and hues. This work forms part of her Musical Notations series which continuously changes based on its location, becoming each time a new composition, a new site intervention, and a new experience.
With this series, her aim is to produce a visual representation of what she feels when listening to music—an emotional score. Her deep connection to sound started when she was a child spending time with her father in his study. As he played music while he worked, he would ask her to close her eyes. As the notes played, she would see in her mind a wide range of shapes and colors changing as the tunes continued—a visual melody. Her Victory Over the Sun illustrates one of her musical compositions. The various shapes such as the square, circle, triangle, and line generate a visual tempo as these elements interact with the architecture, jumping from wall to glass and changing planes within the gallery. Like a composer, she generates a melody with these symbols that intimately lead the audience through the space. The original scores are interpreted and executed by her assistants on-site, making arrangements for the original scores under her direction to befit their specific location.
Furthermore, as in Malevich’s compositions, her imagery seemingly produces a feeling of the infinite as if each individual element happened to be floating in mid-air. This sensation is further heightened by the vivid hues. Each element appeals to the viewer’s senses leading to a palpable awareness of both the space and the self. The work is, therefore, befitting of its title. The sun—as both a symbol of reason, as dictated by Plato, and a source of energy for life on Earth, as established by its nature—has been conquered by the mystical and a feeling of the eternal, the inexplicable.
Bravo’s art intervention brings to mind the architecture of Luis Barragán specifically that of his design for Casa Gilardi. Her use of geometry, planes, and rich colors echoes Barragán’s orchestration of intersecting planes in addition to his use of light throughout the house. He employs water from an inside pool to reflect on surfaces and spatially interact with the space. The effect is a direct impact on the senses. Similarly, Bravo incorporates acrylic, makes use of the glass surfaces in the gallery, and projects animated light to evoke a dialogue between the elements of her composition and the architecture and invite viewers to participate in the space in a new way. Her chromatic fluency, which is inspired by Matisse’s juxtaposition of hues, generates a musical pitch analogous to that found in Casa Gilardi. The result of this summation of parts is a feeling of awe that transcends the geometry and the colors and provides its audience with a heightened consciousness--a musical notation.
Victory Over the Sun is curated by Katherine Meehan, manager of the NYU Langone Art Program and Collection.