M ischievous in its interplay between chance and intention, Robert Nava’s Untitled (Serpent with Boy) from 2018 revels in disparity; abstract forms continuously catch the eyes, the viewer left wondering which elements are authentic versus carefully crafted illusion. Pulsating with vibrant colour and gestural kineticism, Nava’s approach to figuration lends itself to comparison to the figures depicted in pre-historic cave paintings, ancient hieroglyphics, and the fantastical creatures seen on the big screen. Deceptively spontaneous in its childlike gaiety, Untitled (Serpent with Boy) subverts any sense of compositional structure, with Nava’s visual lexicon being intentionally crude and irreverent. In the vein of Jean Dubuffet’s art brut and echoing the short lived but influential New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York "Bad" Painting exhibition, Nava deliberately subverts recent styles of painting and rejects conventional attitudes to iconography and technique. What begins as hazy shades of electric blue descends into great expressionist swatches of colour which are interrupted by black gashes and a fiercely green smudge to represent the figure of the snake. Graphic, almost slapdash in their chromatic intensity, shapes become discernible eyes and mouths, only to disappear again into the destabilising totality of the composition.

Before starting to paint, Nava spends hours meticulously sketching out the forms he wants to paint on his large-scale canvases. After exhausting his sketchbook, the artist attacks the canvas with unbridled confidence. Untitled (Serpent with Boy) epitomises Nava’s distinctive graphic lexicon and gleeful celebration of colour, an act of self-conscious rejection of rigid painterly conventions. A skilled painter, Nava studied for his MFA at Yale University. A self-proclaimed child-star who at “12 or 13, [I] could already draw and paint like Velasquez”, it took Nava “a lifet.mes to learn how to draw like a kid again. [...] I know what I’m doing. It’s carefully done wrong” (Robert Nava, quoted in Keith Estiler, “Robert Nava’s New Mythologies”, Hypebeast, 19 March 2020). After several years spent in New York City with his work receiving little traction, Nava began a series of works inspired by the city’s trucks which would eventually kickstart his career. It was after this electric period of critical and commercial success that the artist began his series of works such as the present inspired by mythical creatures. Robert Nava is based in Brooklyn, New York and his work is included in the permanent collects ions of The Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami.

羅 伯特·納瓦2018年的作品《無題》（Serpent With Boy）展現一種隨機與意識相互交織的差異感，看著饒有玩味。畫中抽象的形象令人眼花繚亂，觀者不禁猜想何為真實、何為藝術家精心構築的幻象。納瓦的作品充滿亮麗鮮豔的色彩、隨性動感的線條筆觸，而他對具象主題的處理，令人想起史前的洞穴壁畫、古代的象形文字、又如當代大熒幕上的幻想生物。《無題》散發著稚氣與童真，以直率、無拘無束的想象力大膽地突破傳統美學中對於構圖與結構的規範。納瓦承傳尚·杜布菲的「原生藝術」和紐約新當代美術館「壞畫」展覽的理念，執意顛覆並質疑所謂的高雅藝術，拒絕寫實的風格和刻板的正統藝術技巧。粗獷的鮮藍綫條通過與黑色塗鴉和亮綠色塊重叠、碰撞化身爲毒蛇；若隱若現的輪廓在一片幾乎隨意混雜的濃烈色彩中頃刻浮現 ，然後再次隱沒於游離不定的畫面中。

在動筆之前，納瓦往往會花費數小時一絲不苟地勾畫出他的想象、對各種形態不斷地進行完善。在草稿成形後，他即乘勢追擊，果敢自信地在畫布上揮灑。《無題》體現了納瓦別具一格的視覺語言以及對色彩的感應、想象和駕馭，亦是他對傳統繪畫的刻板模式有意識的反抗。納瓦在耶魯大學獲得美術碩士學位，自言在12、13嵗時已經對繪畫駕輕就熟的他，卻「用了一生才學會重新像孩子一樣畫畫 （……）我知道我在做什麼。那就是刻意地做錯。」（引述羅伯特·納瓦，錄於 Keith Estiler,〈羅伯特·納瓦的新神話〉， Hypebeast, 2020年3月19日）。納瓦在紐約的藝術事業起步緩慢，需要靠開卡車維持生活，但卻以卡車為靈感開始了一系列的抽象創作，才終於開始受到關注。隨著廣泛的好評和商業成功，納瓦開始創作一系列以奇幻神獸為主題的作品，本作就是其中之一。羅伯特·納瓦現居於紐約布魯克林，作品獲芝加哥藝術博物館和邁阿密當代藝術學院博物館永久收藏。