25 July 2005

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Rob Minuscoli and his 'Ecosigns'


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Mirrored in Art, the relationship between Man and Nature continues to take on new nuances, including hints of irony and sarcasm. Artist and writer Rob Minuscoli has created "Ecosigns", a series of digital images bringing together street signs and ecological themes – an original and paradoxical project, designed perhaps to “point people in the right direction” in terms of rediscovering contact with nature.

Ideas and inspiration
Looking through Minuscoli’s work brings to mind one of those future- set tales or films where the earth is devoid of human presence and a new ecological order is in place, run by atmospheric agents, plants and animals.  As noted American science fiction writer Kilgore Trout has stated: “no preachers or insurance salesmen, no skyscrapers, landmines, credit cards, televisions, restaurants, tin-openers and so on”: everything relating to the human sphere is absent; a surreal planet inhabited by inert forms, street signs, renewed through art to speak the language of nature.  The inspiration for the work came to the author during a walk along a mountain road towards places time had passed by, and the old objects found there included rusty street signs – signs that a witty artistic vision brings suddenly to life.

"Ecosigns"
The signs that we find everyday on the streets of Minuscoli’s work are no longer symbols that only man can decipher – rather, they tend to indicate natural and atmospheric phenomena, and the passing of the seasons: "Give way to chlorophyll" (photo1); "Ecovortex  from the blue" (cover photo); "Autumnal turn ahead" and "Seasonal indecision".
Other examples clearly indicate the humour inherent in the work –
"Beware of Flying Bananas" (cover photo), "Numerical Birth Control" – while he also has fun with quotes and references: "The dark side of the cow" obviously winks an eye at Pink Floyd’s "Dark side of the moon" album.
The ecological theme is clearly evident, even though treated with an ironic slant, and the Ecosigns seem to represent a cry for help provoked by the damage that Man is doing to the environment, a message launched to wake up the human conscience: “Danger: irreversible decay”; “Damp confusion” (photo 2); “Remember the sky”. Nature wins out in Minuscoli’s unpeopled world, taking over from Man, replacing his presence, his constructions, his inventions, and the ecological signs are bright with the luminous colours of meadow, wood, air, and water, and the living creatures that populate these different habitats: “An anthill for all seasons” (photo 3), “Learner grazer” and “We are such stuff as worms dream on”.

And Man’s role in Minuscoli’s vision? He is reduced to the mute, immobile, disquieting dimensions of "corteccia" (Bark) – the series of images “Wooden face 1” (photo 4)… “6”, or the grey apparition beneath a mound of leaves – Self-portrait – in search of a complete fusion and identification with nature, as it moves on inexorably through its endless cycles, through the course of its seasons, through passing time.