Mauro Perucchetti Sculpture & Lluis Barba Photographs

The work of artists Mauro Perucchetti and Lluis Barba unite Pop aesthetics with social comment, fused together with elegance and an ironic wit. Mauro Perucchetti’s meticulously crafted resin sculptures are political, cartoon like and steeped in the language of consumerism. The use of a material at once liquid and solid is representative of his concept; that which appears brightly colored, simple and innocent is descriptive of a world where superficial appearance masks our ethical and spiritual neglect. With bold, synthetic

colors and pristine, shiny surfaces, Perucchetti’s Jelly Babies appeal to the eyes and to the sense of touch. For the artist, these sweet rudimentary human forms symbolize the disposability that permeates all aspects of contemporary consumer society. Beautiful and glossy, like a perfume bottle, the Power of Love heart grenade has its fuse and rod at the ready, exposing the heart’s vulnerability when one is in love.

Lluis Barba’s photographic series Travelers in Time appropriates master artworks as a comment on contemporary society. Using black and white for the past, and color for the present, they force us to consider how our brain receives external references. Modern characters such as Tom Cruise or Madonna are inserted into the medieval worlds of Hieronymus Bosch or Pieter Brueghel as they establish a dialogue between the viewer and subject. Barba says of his work, "I get elements of a reality out of context in order to put them in another reality. I use irony and implicit messages in the works such as the global integration of our society. I incorporate the bar code tattoo like a symbol of lost identity, alienation and massive consumerism."