‘Dedication to Dalí’ by Ashley Mauricia.
Written by Cecilia Federici.
Aruban-born visual artist Ashley Mauricia’s latest project involves beer, more specifically, one of the most famous stout beer brands in the world: Guinness.
An amazing example of the dialogue of interconnectedness between the for-profit business and the contemporary art field has finally arrived in Curaçao: Guinness has launched a program of urban regeneration and cultural promotion through the commission of several murals all over the world to local upcoming and established artists.
An ads campaign that wants to mark the lives of the island inhabitants and tourists alike through the beautification of an urban space otherwise plain and grey, this is a sign that the private businesses can actually make a difference for the local agenda while supporting the contemporary art scene.
Ashley’s inspiration for the mural comes both from the natural landscape of the island and the artist’s art history background. Amongst the artists that have significantly influenced Ashley’s vision are: the Spanish maestro Salvador Dalì, especially for his Surrealist period; Victor Vasarely, a Hungarian-born French painter who became one of the prominent exponents of the Op Art Movement; and the Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher.
A recurrent trait in all of the above mentioned artists’ approaches to art is the relationship between time and space and its distortion. Ashley Mauricia draws from the tradition, implementing features from optical art, surrealism and rationalisation of shapes while keeping the intense, colorful approach that has characterized his style.
In the largest mural project he’s been involved in so far, the artist makes sure of the fact that the concept perfectly adheres to the underlying wall: theoretically but also literally, by adding some concrete in order to create an elevation that sustains the optical illusion of a hand that’s reaching out. Making elements such as the windows and the cables coherent in the overall composition was no easy task: the doll in the upper right corner walks on the cable that continues outside the mural, and the windows become an opportunity to add depth to the wall.
Several polyhedral structures, the artist’s signature element, can be found throughout the whole composition, in a perfect blend of his own artistic research, the desires of the building owner, and the commissioner’s needs; this mural sets a high standard for upcoming projects.
‘Dedication to Dalí’, the mural by Ashley Mauricia, is located at the intersection of Veeris weg and Weg naar Westpunt, opposite Landhuis Morgenster. The perfect mix of urban regeneration, commercialism and contemporary art, Ashley Mauricia’s mural is definitely not going to be left unnoticed in the island’s art scene.
About Cecilia Federici
Cecilia Federici is an aspiring curator based in Rome, Italy. At present, she’s completing her studies in Art History at La Sapienza Università di Roma. In March 2024, she visited Curaçao to participate in the program “The multifaceted impacts of colonization in the Caribbean”. For Curaçao Art she interviewed visual artist Ashley Mauricia, who was at the time completing the mural ‘Dedication to Dalí’.
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