Gallery Hijinks Artist: Robert Minervini

Sunken Dreams: Solo Exhibition May 2011

Artist Statement

The word Utopia originates from the literal Greek meaning “non place,” suggesting that perfection can only exist in the realm of imagination. My work presents invented spaces that are based on reality, but revel in artificiality. In these desolate dreamlike non-places, I subvert nature and construct or destroy architectural sites alluding to the making of a utopian and/or dystopian environment.

The title for this exhibition, “Sunken Dreams,” suggests the potential futility of aspiring for a better future in the face of humanity's self-destructiveness. This body of work considers the current pivotal moment in shaping a future with (or without) humanity. Inspired by the work of R. Buckminster Fuller, a visionary for a utopian future who popularized the geodesic dome, this series of paintings places Fuller's dome structures in various stages of decay in virtual settings as part of an invented narrative space where one is confronted with the destruction of a utopian future.