19 installations, some of them with colossal dimensions, investigate the relationship between believing and seeing
The Argentine artist, Leandro Erlich, debuted in Italy with a solo show that is already recording a record turnout. How he managed to bring one million visitors to the museums in the last two exhibitions in Buenos Aires and Tokyo, is already understood by the first work placed inside the courtyard of the Royal Palace: Bâtiment, an installation born in 2004 in Paris and here revived.
MORE THAN ONE MILLION VISITORS ALREADY VISITED THE PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS IN BUENOS AIRES AND TOKYO
Erlich placed a mirror tilted and hung in mid-air above the reconstruction of the facade of a building. Between balconies, windows and cornices nothing is missing and the public interacts with the work assuming unlikely positions that, once mirrored, seem to tell a collective defenestration.
It is no coincidence that this is the work that has appeared more frequently on instagram in recent months. The audience rushes to the balcony to be seen by friends struggling with acrobatic evolutions. Another 18 installations investigate the theme of perception and the distance between believing and seeing. There are games of illusions made up of lifts that lead nowhere (Elevator Pitch), visitors who want to spy without being seen (The View), exaggerated physical dimensions of those who try to climb the surreal spiral staircase in Staircase. Recurrent use of objects and daily scenarios distorted to induce the observer a state of shock. It seems to be inside an experiment in which you are aware of being seen by others and this limits, but at the same time makes it clear that we are in a context where social rules do not apply.
THERE ARE GAMES OF ILLUSIONS COMPOSED OF LIFTS THAT LEAD NOWHERE AS IN ELEVATOR PITCH
The subversion of physical forces and natural laws assigns other meanings to concepts such as time, silence, movement and the fear of death. All this is technically made possible by complex scaffolding and colossal trompe l’œil to break through walls and open windows to alternative worlds. Erlich is an artist who cannot be labeled under the voices of painter, sculptor, performer. He is an artist tout court.
