Agustín Sirai

Agustín Sirai is an Argentinian artist who paints scenes that seem to exist outside the confines of space. In his landscapes, islands float in the middle of the canvas, detached from the earth, while other paintings show a multitude of objects, trees, and animals suspended against a white background with no spatial relationship to each other. Sirai's compositions hint at a narrative—there seems to be a story to be told of these lonely islands and pictograms—but the meaning is ambiguous and mysterious. His paintings, while still and peaceful, are also slightly ominous, like the calm before the storm. While the elements are familiar, the presentation of these familiar things outside of the boundaries of reality is unsettling. The work speaks to a fragmented world on the verge of catastrophe or chaos.