Paulo Vinluan wants to tell two stories: an Aesop fable on one canvas and a Greek myth on three spheres. Fabricated within A Fabled Still Life is “The Crow and the Pitcher,” while the Objects for Sisyphus, the titular character. There’s also a hidden narrative weaved within — personal memories — making each artwork a diary in disguise.
And Paulo Vinluan has told these stories before: in an animation three years ago and another one almost a decade ago. He is retelling them in a different medium because the static surface offers a unique perspective of the moving plot. For the artist, it’s like having another camera angle, another point of view. Stories seemingly frozen in time and space are actually flowing through the artist’s way of manipulating the forms: They spin. They get large. They get small. They repeat.
So Paulo Vinluan wants to continue telling stories. These new works are part of a larger whole that is still evolving. The crow is still dropping stones in his pitcher and the water has not reached the top yet. Sisyphus is still pushing a boulder and has finally reached the top — and the cycle starts again.
This text was written for Paulo Vinluan’s Parabola exhibition at Finale Art File, Video Room. The show ran from August 12-September 5, 2022.