UNDRGRND ARTIST: RECOLLAPSE
APRIL 29TH, 2022
Each week artists are commissioned for a piece of art through the UNDRGRND Grant Program. 100 NFTs are minted and randomly airdropped to UNDRGRND Membership Cardholders. To find out how you can be featured as an UNDRGRND Artist check out our Discord.
The art of Recollapse inspires awe with the amount of detail there and the amount of detail that is not while visiting his surreal cities. Rollercoaster Emotion includes an entire city, complete with dwellings, roads, a theme park, a rollercoaster and people. More than a blueprint, it shows everything, like a societal, anthropological map of the city; the kind you would find in a video game, with all the artifacts and characters needed to speak with to advance the story. This is art like I haven't seen in such a long time. It makes me want to look into every single nook and cranny, read all of the text I can read, and learn more about this city as if a new citizen or tourist . There are giant-sized humans and dogs in this town, but also typical-sized humans; perhaps it’s a change in perspective. If we look at the bottom right-hand corner of the artwork, we see a large individual with a blue face and yellow sweater walking his dog and interacting with a ghost-like spirit. Above, it says "Emotion Dude". Maybe this person feels their emotions the most when walking their dog, contemplating, doing a little walking meditation.
This all makes sense in the context of the caption, "Overwhelmed by uncertain events, the mind always spins in a difficult direction, affecting emotions in the soul". This city might be the map of someone's mind, or soul. When our body or soul gets overwhelmed, our mind goes to random places, through a rollercoaster of emotions, just like what we see here. An entire family of bears on the top right under the puddle of water that seems to spring from a stop sign or traffic lights. Looking at the rollercoaster you’ll notice that all of the occupants are penguins, full-on Pingu style. A whole colony of penguins on a rollercoaster feels like a scene from the Jim Carrey movie, Mr.Poppers Penguins.
Like out of a Cronenberg movie there is an odd creature, what appears to be a cross between a shark, a tadpole and your worst nightmare, with the longest hand coming down, and giving you the finger, or wait, is that the body of it? It's very eerie and comforting at the same time. Kudos to Recollapse for inspiring this balance. Another exciting part of this canvas is the selection, and the consistency, of the colour palette. By virtue of the colour of a person's sweater, you can infer which house they are most likely to live, same with the cars and the roads.
Looking at another piece, Moonsoon, in relation to the previous one, it looks as if it's zoomed in, with some of the same occupants of the city, among new characters and creatures. This time it's a totally different mise-en scène, or a different day, but it is great to see some of these characters and creatures re-appear so that we can further look into their lives; like looking at a diorama of a miniature city. A new bird appears previously absent with a huge thing coming out of his beek, like long, charcoal spaghetti, while trying to ride a unicycle? And if we follow the bird's gaze, we see a lady with the head of a bear, with a potted plant on her shoulder in the style of a quiver. Behind her, either tiny or in the distance, are four bear cubs riding little carts and a smaller bird. We cross the road and are greeted by a character dressed in a superhero costume, with a cross over the W, almost like a no-entry sign for cars, and on the right of him, it says, "I don't hero, but I said I≠War". Is this an anti-war "hero" or someone who doesn't like to be called a hero? On the opposite side of him, we see a character that resembles a religious deity, possibly Jesus holding a burning cup of coffee and growing a tree. At the same time, the bears watch him from the road below.
The caption of the piece states, "It feels like a new moon has come some people will devise a plan that may be defeated by circumstances, something stifling and meaningful". A new moon is coming, and in some cultures and households, that signifies that a war or disturbance is brewing. Maybe that's why “Anti-War Man” is here, and the deity is just observing, along with the multiple blackbirds.
Whatever it all means, Recollapse creates beautiful art that satisfies the soul and raises many questions that are better left unanswered and up to interpretation to the audience or visitors to these surreal cityscapes.