DUST TO DUST
Carlone Contemporary, Belvedere, Vienna 2023


Curated by Stella Rollig
Assistant curator: Johanna Hofer

Upon first glance, Dust to Dust may seem like a minimalist installation in the baroque ambiance of Carlone Hall. However, upon closer inspection, the display’s space-consuming surface reveals profound poetry. Michail Michailov has meticulously crafted an 18-part series of colored pencil drawings that capture the often unnoticed and incidental vestiges of time, such as dust, hair, marks, and stains. In its simplicity, this microcosm touches on themes of value, transience, and the existence of things. The artist states, “While science explores matter through its composition, I try to understand its mean- ing through art.” Michailov’s drawings are incredibly realistic due to his mastery of the illusionist trompe l’oeil technique, and echo the tradition of Carlo Innocenzo Carlone, who, centuries prior, decorated the ceiling of Carlone Hall with the fresco Triumphs of Aurora—a depiction of the victory of light over darkness.