Lot Essay
Drawing inspiration from Renaissance fresco painting, American artist Adam Cvijanovic's 'portable murals' depict contemporary landscapes with a sense of celestial awe. Executed in 2005 and spanning an impressive 75 feet, Cvijanovic's Love Poem (10 Minutes After the End of Gravity) captures the dreamy and disquieting essence of suburban Americana as a rapturous science fiction tableau. Envisioning a sun-bleached Los Angeles ten minutes after the end of gravity, Cvijanovic's utopia ascends in a whirlwind of consumerist ecstasy. Emulating ovie backdrops as well as the acclivous perspective of cathedral dome tromp l'oeils, Love Poem (10 Minutes After the End of Gravity) combines the sublime horror of disaster films with amajestic religiosity, as bungalows and palm trees are destroyed in the exaltation of their own perfectness. Painted entirely by the artist without assistants, Cvijavovic's work reconstitutes the intimacy of timeless artistry with a modern day immediacy.