Paradise is a closed garden. Encircled and protected by the divine, an eternal bountiful field can be found where harmony between humans and nature is honoured. And the ideal of paradise is both the beginning and the end, both the Garden of Eden and the Elysian Fields. This is the ideal state of existence that gives birth to the paintings that open Eugénia Mussa’s solo exhibition at Monitor: Release the chicken!

In Eden I (2024), she paints an idyllic setting, filled with lush vegetation and crystal-clear waterfalls. Hanging from the ceiling, the large canvas Eden II takes us closer to this place, revealing the diversity of the existing flora, so diverse that it seems alien. Several female figures rest on the green fields around the massive waterfall. The characters hint at what is to follow in the remaining works, where human figures are almost always tiny compared to the vastness of the surrounding landscape.

After the romantic The Red Forest (2024), the work Welcome (2024) acts as a welcome sign to Monitor’s lower floor, taking us away from paradise. We travel down to a place far outside utopia, where the fictional scenarios, although close to a dream, are similar to reality. The following paintings suggest movement. The characters are following a course unknown to the audience, the present is only what we see, all else is speculation. Where do the characters in Duck Family (2024) go? Is it an escape or just a regular journey? In People Cart (2024), is it a garden shut off from the outside world? Why do the characters wear the same clothes? Both works raise questions about the freedom of those living in them.

The Carriage (2024) depicts a red-clad figure in a carriage steered by four yellow horses. The vehicle rests on a strange black box with white trimmings and the garish green landscape with its proud yellow colour enhances the dreamlike atmosphere. One horse appears to be hesitating, while the others want to move on. As such, the composition and its title are also apparently referring to the tarot card “The Chariot”, where focus, determination and the importance of knowing how to control opposing forces come into play.

We move back to the real in Open Water (2024), where a swimming group moves through the immense blue waters. When swimming, we are always surrounded by something larger than ourselves, and, here, the smallness of the figures is heightened by the large ship looming in the distance. The breadth of the sea extends to Moonlight (2024), where the artist has painted a sublime bay whose waters reflect the glow of an intense moonlight. A yellow boat is in the foreground and, further on, three bonfires herald a tension of which the audience is unaware.

Paradise is fully absorbed through Inspired by the painting “Discovery of America” by Johann Moritz Rugendas (2024), a reinterpretation of the work done by the nineteenth-century German painter cited in the title. With her fiery red, Eugénia Mussa builds a scenario in which chaos is apparent, placing the original composition under a burning filter. The red rage is as ferocious as it is hypnotic, and our eyes are absorbed by it.

Visiting Eugénia Mussa’s works is to wander between dream and wakefulness in landscapes where divine and mundane meet. This is where the artist reinterprets the chaos and order of a timeless world of imagination.

Release the chicken! is open until July 7, 2024.