MICHAEL camarra

NEON DIONYSIA

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August 18th - September 17th, 2023

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Arch Enemy Arts is pleased to present the latest collection of works by New York artist, Michael Camarra, entitled: NEON DIONYSIA. This series of eight captivating acrylic paintings  reinterprets neoclassical scenes of mythical reverie amidst Camarra’s hallmark atmospheres of post-apocalyptic decay. Igniting the panels with the radiance he is known for, Camarra has bathed his monolithic structures, demigods, and dancers in an ethereal neon-twilight glow. 

 

The central figure of the series, Dionysus, Greek god of wine and madness, holds court in accompaniment of Pan and Maenad acolytes. The figures are adorned with various anachronistic refuse of a seemingly distant technological age– irreverently placed headphones, speaker parts, and electronic hardware are worn as jewelry and headdress alike. The visual narrative is made complete by Camarra’s inclusion of classical pottery and architecture, the latter built from reclaimed panels of ribbed and rusted metal, cleverly emulating the fluted columns of ancient Doric constructions. 

 

Creatively grappling with a discomforting present, anticipating what seeds and pantheons may blossom from the potential destruction of tomorrow, Camarra unites these themes of reinvention with clever compositions in a manner that he accurately describes as post-apocalyptic Romanticism. Of the inspiration behind Neon Dionysia and the subjects portrayed both overtly and subliminal, the artist writes:

 

“There's a general captivation with this grim vision of the future and I saw it as fertile territory to contrast with something much more lighthearted. So I landed on the more celebratory themes of the Dionysia/Bacchanalia that we see in neoclassical art. Despite the outwardly lighter tone in this show, many pieces still have a creeping presence of some sort of cataclysm told in the props and setting. A harp made out of a soldier's helmet. Temples made out of broken pieces of concrete ruins. Thrones made out of decrepit electronic waste.”

 

Michael Camarra received a BFA in 2005 from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. In the same year, he was a recipient of the Albert Dorne Award from the Society of Illustrators. NEON DIONYSIA is the artist’s fourth solo show with Arch Enemy Arts, coming after 2022’s Gods of a Broken Land.

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- Alex Medlin II

 

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NEON DIONYSIA will be on view from August 18th - September 17th, 2023.
Sold works will begin to ship the week of September 24th, unless other arrangements have been made.

Items marked with a red dot have already been sold.

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