Mattia Guarnera-MacCarthy: Mystic Cool @ Tube Gallery
When: 17.05.24 - 21.06.24
Where: Tube Gallery, Palma, Spain
Marking Mattia Guarnera-MacCarthy’s (b. 1999) first solo exhibition in Mallorca, the showcased works resonate with a blend of London influences and the environment nurtured during his art residency in Mallorca. Upon entering the exhibition space, viewers are greeted by multi-scale canvases depicting small, mundane moments of life, and artifacts emblematic of the consumerism era. These scenes feel familiar, reminiscent of advertising or social media. Yet, there is something in these works that prompts deeper reflection. The uncanny valley effect in the seemingly straightforward narrative of the works compels viewers to draw closer, urging them to explore every inch. Guarnera shows the world at the apparent intersection of the digital and the real.
Make it stand out
Figure 1. Just a Scratch, by Mattia Guarnera-MacCarthy, 2024, 45x35 cm, airbrush acrylic on canvas (exh. Tube Gallery, Palma, 2024). Photo courtesy of Natasha Lebedeva
The artist employs digital photography as a source, using digital collage techniques and other digital manipulation to deliberately welcome the automatic errors, and then paints the result in acrylic on canvas.
An airbrush is used to create the effect of error, disorder, and blur on the tangible medium, highlighting the transition from digital to physical. Each deliberate error or blur serves as a testament to the meticulous process of transposing digital aesthetics into physical form. As the artist admits In his artist statement, his goal is to “create a sort of grainy, encrypted, veiled, distance between the viewer and the work”.
This process positions the works of “Mystic Cool” within contemporary technological and posthumanist discourse. In an attempt to rediscover and rethink what it means to be human, Guarnera faces dilemmas of ethics, subjective perception of reality, and the relationship between machines and humans. His edited ‘insta’ snaps, transferred from his iPad to canvas, seem to slow down time and prompt reflection. In the short time that AI has been present, both artists and a wide audience have not yet moved from denial to acceptance. But Mattia’s example shows that it is possible to engage with digital aesthetics while maintaining creative control, preserving the human element in art. Interestingly, Guarnera diminishes his prominence as an artist, noting that “the digital medium is taking on a form of divine power” (quote from his artist statement). Thus, Roland Barthes’ concept of the “Death of the Author” is experiencing a new revival loop.
Make it stand out
Figure 2. Don’t Smoke In Bed, 2024, 190x190cm, airbrush acrylic on canvas (exh. Tube Gallery, Palma, 2024). Photo courtesy of Natasha Lebedeva
However, the attractiveness of the mistake, regardless of its nature –digital or not– isn’t new.
Looking back at the art history, we can trace the artistic manipulation with deliberate errors and mistakes across different epochs, recalling examples such as Chagall’s seven-fingered hand and Anthony van Dyck’s abnormally long legs. Manifestation and celebration of a such mistake we see in Just a Scratch (fig.1) where the outline of a car headlight is refracted, distorted and smudged. Having only recently begun his career, Guarnera, a 2022 graduate of Camberwell College of Arts, identifies as an artist-researcher—a designation reflected in both his artist statement and his practice. Guarnera states that he creates parallels such as “good and evil, pain and glory, digital and real, clear and vague”. It is therefore very logical that the exhibition’s main semantic and visual methods are duality, parallelism, and contrast.
Taking into account that common theme in posthumanism paradigm is how binary concepts such as ‘human and non-human,’ ‘natural and artificial,’ ‘animate and inanimate,’ and ‘biological and mechanical’ are challenged, Guarnera’s works indeed embody the probe of these contrasts. It is evident in both narrative content and playful, sometimes sarcastic titles. For instance, in the diptych Don't Smoke in Bed (fig.2), a naked male torso is juxtaposed with a crumpled bed and a smoldering ashtray. One of the cigarettes is still smoking. In none of the works do we see the human figure in its entirety.
The human presence is reduced to synecdoche, emphasizing its vulnerability through mundane, personal items and body parts. The whole is perceived through its part. But what could be more human than simple things that are not usually subject to prolonged contemplation: underwear (Osadia, Lover Boy), crumpled sheets, braces (In Alignment), garbage bags (The Path To Love Is Through Trash).
Contemplation is the key word. In the spacious rooms of the gallery, visitors are invited to slowly and progressively examine images whose analogues might otherwise be swiftly scrolled past on social media. In a digital age where photography has become utilitarian and disposable, the tons of gigabytes of images dumped on the internet daily. Ironically, to maintain this bridge between the art and the ‘swipe culture’, Guarnera’s pieces are displayed in medallic frames resembling iPhone’s titanium body. The hanging method enhances the contrast, with small-sized works placed next to large-format diptychs, creating dynamic visual interactions and maintaining viewers’ engagement (fig. 3).
Figure 3. From left to right: Madame X, 2024, 45x35, airbrush acrylic on canvas; One More, 2024. 45x35cm, airbrush acrylic on canvas; The Path To Love Is Through Trash, 2024, 190x150cm, airbrush acrylic on canvas (exh. Tube Gallery, Palma, 2024). Photo courtesy of Natasha Lebedeva
Considering Francesca Ferrando’s premise that “in the posthuman post-dualistic approach, the ‘what’ is the ‘how,’” Guarnera’s choice of visual language becomes clear. For a generation of artists.
born and accustomed to living in a digitalized world, phygital approach is their natural way of thinking. This means that understanding the essence of a phenomenon involves considering both its nature and its processes simultaneously. Nevertheless, Guarnera’s narrative is accessible and resonant, whether for Zoomers or Boomers, traditionalists or innovators. It’s an ode to youth. It is an honest story of his daily life as a young artist, where being cool means being a human.
References
Mattia Guarnera-McCarthy, quoted from ‘Artist statement’. Available at mattiaguarnera-maccarthy.com/artist-statement, accessed 15th June 2024.
Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations." Existenz: An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics, and the Arts 8 (2): 26-32. ISSN 1932-1066. (p. 32)
