Ivan Mikolji Between Science and Art

Curatorial Text

Ivan Mikolji : Between Science and Art

Having embarked on more than one hundred expeditions and his work published in innumerable international publications, Ivan Mikolji has demonstrated his authenticity and the originality of his passion for aquatic life, forest worlds, and the sea. Permeating his work is a consciousness of the urgency of maintaining these ecological systems, where life sprouts and upon which survival of contemporary civilization depends. His aesthetic action has turned art to life in a concrete sense. This can be seen in how his photographic actions create exhibition samples, and his wild aquariums (Wild Aquariums) have turned into a global trend.

The philosophy that drives his creative force is an urgency to preserve aquatic ecosystems. He considers it necessary to reveal the richness and beauty of these biomes as a first step in doing this. As he would say; “you cannot preserve something that you don´t know exists.” And so, he has dedicated a large part of his life to this labor.

To begin to know this abundant biodiversity, he has passed countless hours in rivers, lakes, estuaries… to photograph and film the beauty of these biomes.

Each one of these photographs demonstrates a powerful empathy for planetary ecology, and for the life that palpitates within the Earths´s hydraulic basins. It is not only the survival of more than 1,100 species in Venezuela, it is the survival of humanity that depends on research and conservation of these areas. Approximately 15% of hydraulic resources on the planet are contained in these bodies of fresh water, and there exist myriad unknown species. Tropical forests are being threatened by deforestation and mining.

The most impactful aspect of each of these traces of light and videos is not limited to their beauty and composition, but comes in knowing this ignored world, bringing one closer to this universe. It shows the behavior of these species, the intimate relationship with aquatic plants, the ways they nourish themselves, reproduce, protect themselves, camouflage themselves, or make themselves vainly stand out with striking colors.

This can be observed in the photograph of the dwarf caiman, in which the reptile stays immobile for hours, until being confused for an inert element of the background, being surrounded by fish that might confuse it for a sunken log, thus becoming its prey. A similar approach can be observed in stingrays that mimic the leaves of the surrounding area or cover themselves in river sand as they lay in wait for their prey. This behavior is reminiscent of the amusing patience of the fish that feed themselves on grains of sand, filtering them to extract the nutrients; behavior that contrasts with the dynamism of piranhas or caribas that search for rotten meat in rivers, or weak specimens to go at them as a compact group.

The artist demonstrates the aesthetic dimension of these scientific methodologies and brings the public to science through art through the photographs in which transparencies or diaphanizations of fish skeletons emphasize the bone structure and cartilage, permitting them to be used for classification and preservation for future research.

By encountering the right angle in every click, the artist uses this visual language to emphasize underwater reflections – images that exist thanks to the refraction and reflection of light. The photographer uses these reflections as a resource to duplicate or distort reality. This creates compositions that are surrealist, nonexistent, illusory, like psychedelic hallucinations. This dimension of the images is as surprising and impactful as are the underwater macro photographs which show the Apure and Meta rivers, creating visions that seem to sprout from the imagination. The photographic series of the rocky backdrops of the Gran Savanna seem to be landscapes born in science fiction.

Photographing reality with virtuosity, Ivan Mikolji is able to create a perception of the atmosphere of the place, allowing others to come closer to the environment. Having been submerged during hundreds of hours, one becomes so familiarized with these biomes that it became possible to select images that express a vision of communion with these cosmos, as can be observed in the photograph of the hummingbird fish, in the photograph of the leaf fish, or the imponent presence of the Andinocara cichlid.

There is a dimension that the creator cannot reach through these aesthetic registers: the felt, the imagined, what this universe wakes up in the subconscious. The artist achieves this dimension in his artwork in the series Ichthyoform. The lines of these drawings, more than just inspired by and recreating the waves of the water, the shapes of fish, and the diversity of colors and characteristics of aquatic plants, create a visual syntax together with the beautiful rock formations and great islands that are born from river currents such as that of the Orinoco. Cultural elements from oral tradition and mythology from forest-dwelling cultures permeate this syntax. The keys to understanding the artwork are obtained through their titles, which permit the public to transcend the immediate perception that comes with the first glance at the piece, leaving suggestive names such as Ichthyoform Amalivaca latent in the imagination of the spectator.

Eduardo Planchart Licea
PhD Historia del Arte Latinoamericano, UNAM.