I NEED AMERICA NEEDS ME

"As we gaze into the turbulent mirror... Some are tweeting that fascism is approaching...
or has it finally revealed itself with unlimited technological hubris." — Isha Rose Servitus

Spinello Projects is pleased to present I NEED AMERICA NEEDS ME, the fourth solo exhibition of Sinisa Kukec at the gallery. I NEED AMERICA NEEDS ME features a body of wall works in rectangle and pentagon formats using raw materials; red oak, maple, walnut, epoxy, and acrylic mirrors. These new variations of Kukec’s ongoing trajectory of work under the umbrella concept of GRAVITYWELL, explores physical and metaphysical models of gravitational, magnetic, and resonance fields surrounding the invisible forces created by the cosmos. Many of the mirrored pieces bear depression points that resemble vortices seen in deep space and inner space, specifically in the forms of black holes. The acrylic mirrors have been affected by heat, accelerated gravity, etching and inlay. In contrast, DITIO, a small work on wood treated with electrical pulses, resulting in bifurcating patterns – known as Lichtenberg Figures – shows us the relation between nanoscopic and galactic scales. They encompass a dual odyssey: matter and antimatter, an exploration of the push-pull of seemingly irrational forces. Without the random collisions of atoms, nature would fail to actively produce anything.

The methodology behind the work reflects experience; intuition observational musings of irregularities and the acceptance of chance are the “thinking tools” (a term coined by Daniel Dennett). This exploration is the metaphoric “terrain” of the so-called construct of the human species within and alongside the greater universe. Kukec invites his viewers to engage in a simple gesture of perception and/or reflection. The question becomes: are you Echo or Narcissus?

I NEED AMERICA NEEDS ME, the title of the exhibition is a word play on a specific propaganda as indicative of World War II-era American ephemera. A pamphlet was published by the U.S. Department of Education between 1940 and 1946, under the Mayoral Committee for Mobilisation of New York at War. At the time of its publication, it read like a typical action call to citizens of the United States to prepare for the realities of a nation at war. Today this rhetoric in tone and structure bears little difference to the kind of propagandist marketing, which was employed by those within the Axis Powers. Ultimately, it is representative of the Republic as an eternal and ongoing paradox; one with freedom in its mind, but caged and confused in its efforts.

Sinisa Kukec’s interests reflect an intense curiosity towards gravity, indeterminacy, and the incomprehensible nature of consciousness. In reflecting upon the incomprehensible the question becomes how behaviors, rituals and social conventions have an effect on our place in the universe.