Déjà Vu
A frozen Smokey is analyzing the situation, he is trying to understand it. He was away for more than 2 years, between 2017 and 2019. During that time, Paul only painted the backgrounds. He thought that Smokey needed to leave the paintings to better understand his background. But when Smokey came back in 2020 he found a mess of a background. Smokey, in a frozen state, doesn't know how to react. But he has one certainty, as Paul also does. The certainty that he had been there before… A sense of Déjà Vu.
So, who is this mysterious figure that wanders around in Onditi´s paintings? Who is Smokey? Why is he always alone? Smokey is the representation of the human mind. He is trapped in his own mind. The mind and the thinking process only have space for one person, so only Smokey can be there. Inside his mind, all that he sees is his thinking.
“Déjà Vu” is a statement about a phase of humility; sometimes we feel lost and all seems unknown.
These drawbacks remind Paul of his first days in his career as an artist. This exhibition is a state of mind-like a Déjà vu, it feels like it has already happened. Onditi even drops his prices just for this exhibition to be radically consistent with his statement. Surrounded by dystopian worlds and reflecting Smokeys - after all his experiences and his successful career as an artist, he still has more questions than answers. What to do with this new background? How to understand the mystery of the universal mind?
For Paul, the backgrounds are also characters full of emotions and moods. They can be sunny, cloudy... They have issues such as climate change and the impact of pollution on the earth. They are consequences of the decisions and actions of the collective identity that are deeply disconnected from its origins and its true nature. Reds represent the fire; the luminous colors speak about radiation. The backgrounds change locations because Smokey travels around, and elements go out of track because things are going out of tradition. Nothing works like before; the climate, the religion, the social, the politics… all is out of balance and now also Covid fills the backgrounds creating more confusion and uncertainty. The envelopes framing the paintings are a metaphor for isolation. The letters are there to be seen but not read because all are still mysterious and inexplicable, and so is humankind.
In the mind of humankind, we live in a subjective world. If it is correct in your mind, it doesn't matter if it is correct in the mind of others. That is why in Onditi´s paintings, 0+1+5 = 015. The answer is not scientifically correct; the artist creates his own math, his own answers. We are all unique and unique minds have unique answers.
So, who is this mysterious figure that wanders around in Onditi´s paintings? Who is Smokey? Why is he always alone? Smokey is the representation of the human mind. He is trapped in his own mind. The mind and the thinking process only have space for one person, so only Smokey can be there. Inside his mind, all that he sees is his thinking.
“Déjà Vu” is a statement about a phase of humility; sometimes we feel lost and all seems unknown.
These drawbacks remind Paul of his first days in his career as an artist. This exhibition is a state of mind-like a Déjà vu, it feels like it has already happened. Onditi even drops his prices just for this exhibition to be radically consistent with his statement. Surrounded by dystopian worlds and reflecting Smokeys - after all his experiences and his successful career as an artist, he still has more questions than answers. What to do with this new background? How to understand the mystery of the universal mind?
For Paul, the backgrounds are also characters full of emotions and moods. They can be sunny, cloudy... They have issues such as climate change and the impact of pollution on the earth. They are consequences of the decisions and actions of the collective identity that are deeply disconnected from its origins and its true nature. Reds represent the fire; the luminous colors speak about radiation. The backgrounds change locations because Smokey travels around, and elements go out of track because things are going out of tradition. Nothing works like before; the climate, the religion, the social, the politics… all is out of balance and now also Covid fills the backgrounds creating more confusion and uncertainty. The envelopes framing the paintings are a metaphor for isolation. The letters are there to be seen but not read because all are still mysterious and inexplicable, and so is humankind.
In the mind of humankind, we live in a subjective world. If it is correct in your mind, it doesn't matter if it is correct in the mind of others. That is why in Onditi´s paintings, 0+1+5 = 015. The answer is not scientifically correct; the artist creates his own math, his own answers. We are all unique and unique minds have unique answers.
