• Search what's on:

  • Advanced

  • Ernesto Caivano

  • Until Aug 30
  • This event has finished
  • White Cube Hoxton Square, 48 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB
  • Rating:

  • By Rebecca Geldard

    Posted: Mon Jul 21

  • Ernesto Caivano is an extraordinary draughtsman with a possibly masochistic love of pen and ink. In his meticulous, linear drawings he appears to reduce all strands of earthly rationalisation to the level of romantic fantasy. Dipping in and out of scientific, philosophical, art historical, literary and sociological territories as if they were inkpots on his studio table, the New York-based Spaniard appears as lost among the vast array of information at his disposal as the next man. So what does link his medieval narratives of love lost with modernist pick-up sticks and the Big Bang Theory?

    After reading the press release, with its woolly references to the humans versus nature debate, I can’t help but feel a bit palmed off, especially given the technical accuracy of the information presented. Conversely, the more Caivano veers from realistic characterisation or decipherable lore, the more interesting his work becomes. While most things described in his deft graphic hand are visually compelling (see ‘Caressing Future Polygon’, below), there are times when the folksy sensibilities of fractured woodland or reference-book botanical scenes reek too heavily of illustration or album cover art to get past the prettiness of it all. But just when you’ve got a handle on his mode of cloaking contemporary concerns in antique fabrics, the narrative rug is pulled. You find yourself foxed in front of clusters of reprographic colour-coded straws or floating within abstract vistas that could as easily describe galactic detritus as ballistic or ashtray residue.

    While the large-scale nature of this show throws up some of the more mannered aspects of Caivano’s practice, it also provides his epic perspectives with the room they require to breathe. Standing in front of a giant ‘Floral Vein’ painting, the skin-like surface of which appears to have suffered the hairy effects of a dog-grooming session, I am agog and prepared to rashly conclude that were it not for the random nature of his enquiry I might still be stuck in the woods.
Add your comment to this listing

Have your say






Advertisement

  • Map

Date of the day

Arya_UK

Hi! I'm just moving to London to start my MA program. I am a newcomer here and would like to find somebody to show me around and to have a good...

Expedia.co.uk logo
hotels in London
Great travel deals
hotel.info
Guest reviews of London hotels
Travel Supermarket
Flights to London
Hotels in London
London Car Hire
Hotels.com
hotels in London
Venere.com
London hotel deals

More ways to enjoy Time Out