"Visible Force," sculptures by Rodrigo Nava

Yellow Peril Gallery 

60 Valley St #5, Providence, RI   (view map)

The word “literally” is literally the must abused in the English language. But there’s no abuse involved when one says that Rodrigo Nava’s new exhibit “Visible Force” is “literally” explosive. The show, at Yellow Peril Gallery, 60 Valley St #5, Providence, includes “a series of explosive-formed sculptures investigating the nature of process and the materiality of steel.” The Yellow Peril folks elaborate: “Seen everyday in structural forms, steel hides its own materiality behind a symbol of strength. Nava’s ‘Visible Force,’ at one time constructed and visually solid objects, hold within them the moment of ignition — the very process that bloated and altered one of our most familiar materials. Nava’s work turns our common read of steel into one quite foreign — the marks and wrinkles of inflation convince us that this is a soft object, yet the common familiarity with this material tells us this shouldn’t be so . . . The visual weight of steel is confused with the buoyancy of something inflated, lighter than air . . . Nava’s work creates a narrative of conversation between artist and process. Each sculpture exists as a visual embodiment of the exact moment when the work left the artist’s hand and became altered by the artist’s process.” The show opens on July 19 and runs through August 12 (Thursday and Friday 3 to 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 to 5 pm, “other days by appointment or chance”) | 401.861.1535 | yellowperilgallery.com