Alias Trate - Technicolour Malaise

Credit: Alias Trate

Haunting, cold and mysterious. Alias Trate’s latest exhibition makes you feel like the undesired guest at a family dinner, but not in a bad way.

Once you virtually step into Trate’s 3D dollhouse, you’re free to explore the desolate apartment where only piles of books, canvases and bright windows make the place feel alive.

At the entrance door, you’re welcomed by a colourful but dull portrait of a woman. Chaste Desire is the first artwork that seemingly welcomes you (or not) to have a look around. The figure is represented with alienesque traits — big, piercing eyes, long neck and small nose and mouth — that give the painting that haunting feel.

Trate is known for his intuitive paintings that require no preparatory drawings, and the precise and full oil brush strokes are a sign of this. This exhibition is set to tell through arresting colour palettes and gender-fluid figures the evolution of the human condition.

As you make your way through the living space, you’re surrounded by a rainbow of pale portraits. Every eye is fixed on you, as if you were the peasant at the exclusive royal ball.

The armless men and women hanging from the wall seem unimpressed by what they’re looking at: Incandescent Deprivation stands out from the rest with its blinding contrast of yellow and magenta. The traits of what appears to be a woman are edgy, sharp and pointy. Her eyes are half shut with large blue eye-bags making them seem bigger. Perhaps they represent her severe nature or the sleep deprivation which could’ve inspired the title.

In the corner of the kitchen area, four portraits follow each other. But these are different from the others. One in particular, Vandal, catches the attention. Unlike other figures, this one is among the three with only one eye visible. The other seems to be hidden under a pitch black veil that also cuts the figure in half. Subtle pink and purple tones blend together in the middle of the artwork leaving the scene to the bright orange left eye.

This darker tone is also apparent in Ethereal Consumption, where the veil now seems to be almost swallowing the figure, covering her entire body. Only the face is visible through a hole that gives a glimpse to her eye and mouth. You’d expect the woman to be uncomfortable, gasping for air, but the veil fits like a glove and she looks like a model ready to pose in the weirdest conditions.

Trate’s exhibition is a deep and introspective voyage that helps you to understand all those emotions that we usually lock up inside our mind. Trate sets free all these feelings through his dystopian silhouettes and vivid colours.

As a viewer, you can’t help but feel uneasy with all these creepy figures staring straight at you, but in all their mystery, these are the only ‘friends’ that keep you company.