Not long after announcing the representation of Robert Nava, Pace Gallery opened an exhibition of New York-based artist's new paintings at their seasonal gallery in Palm Beach. The five featured works explore the dualities of good and evil through the iconography of sharks, all rendered with an expressive visual language marked with determined gestures and a raw, intuitive approach to painting.
Although trained as a realistic painter, it didn't take long for Nava to master the technique and lose his interest in creating such work and was more intrigued by mistakes that he could notice in it. "By drawing things "incorrectly", I found more things to do in that realm," the artist told Juxtapoz in an interview we did with him back in 2019. "So that's why I find it more interesting and why I draw and paint like this." This shift happened in 2007-2008 and ever since he has been exploring the virtually endless possibilities of drawing "badly". Such a conceptual approach allowed him to alternate the reality and assemble, repurpose, or abstract the existing visuals and relationship in a new way and start constructing new myths.
The latest presentation which was on view between January 6th and 17th were driven by his desire to make such new myths, responsive to our times. Focusing on the shark imagery as an intuitive symbol of raw "evil" existing in nature, Nava then proceeds to blend such visuals with elements from a wide range of influences. Inspired by everything from prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian art, cartoons, all the way to pinball culture, or industrial scenes, he mixes a variety of imagery constructing fantastical monsters both on the contextual and technical level. By combining spray paint, acrylics, and grease pencil, he is achieving the crudeness of his countless sketchbook drawings and sometimes even evoking the glow of Instagram tools. This mix of fantasy, myths, and reality, enables the artist to propose alternate viewings of imagery that historically had one meaning only. through the depiction of these creatures in a somewhat sympathetic light, with exaggerated proportions, harmless new qualities, or confronting absurd enemies, Nava is referring to the duality present in every form or aspect of life. Simultaneously challenging the values and conventions appropriated to "high art" and deliberately disrespecting and disregarding its traditional attitudes, his oeuvre is successfully built on the legacy of "bad" painting with the addition of present-day elements. —Sasha Bogojev
Installation view of Robert Nava, Photography courtesy of Pace Gallery
