FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Magnan Projects is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition for Roberto Coromina.  Elliptical Bites will be on view from May 15 – June 21.

Elliptical Bites is a site-specific installation of two ellipses on opposing walls of the gallery, each measuring 27 feet wide by 3 feet.  Made out of canvas and wood fragments the ellipses appear to emerge from the surface of the walls.  Each fragment is a separate module cut at straight angles.  Along the edge of the ellipse these fragments contain repetitive shapes that imbue the piece with a sense of rhythm and depth.

Interested in the Baroque concept of expanding space, Coromina wishes the sum of the fragmented pieces the viewer experiences to be understood as a whole.  Seen from the street, before entering the gallery space, the pieces appear as two circles facing each other.  Once inside the gallery, it becomes clear that the shapes are not circles but ellipses.  Their size requires the viewer to walk the length of the gallery to see them in detail.

The initial impression of the installation is one of color and shape.  This impression will segue as the viewer moves through the installation until the piece is seen from the back of the gallery, where the unpainted backside of the fragmented “slices” of canvas reveals an entirely different perspective.

Elliptical Bites invites the viewer to actively participate in Coromina’s investigation into how painting can deceive our perceptions as he attempts to define new limits to painting.  Concerned with both painting and the history of art, he desires to question the images in painting; it’s visibility and reason for being.  In this pursuit, he employs different techniques; some more faithful to the tradition of painting and others more informal, creating objects and occupying space.

Robert Coromina was born in Zaragoza, Spain and graduated from Bellas Artes, Facultad Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Coromina has exhibited throughout Europe and is in collection of many museums and private collections.  Most recently, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castillo y León (MUSAC) acquired his work.  The artist currently lives in Spain.