The group of anonymous artists self-titled Union of the Impossible was established in 2020, amidst the raging pandemic and socio-political unrest. Its members are not fixed and their number keeps expanding. The artists’ staple is the traditional medium of painting on canvas. They poke fun at everyday life that has undergone a drastic change towards the bizarre. They come up with new means of protection, creating ‘visual shields’ against blandness, boredom, indifference, logic, and consistency.
Union of the Impossible. “Moment”. 2021. Oil on canvas 70cm x 60 cm.
Not in our wildest dreams could we imagine that we would get to face a time of ‘great trials and tribulations’. The new normal (and, possibly, the irrevocable) has changed our lives, and we are slowly starting to grow used to it. Irony is an indispensable aid in situations such as this. This is how the Dada farce took root, first causing the viewer to go numb and begging the questions, ’What is this, exactly?’ and ‘Why this, precisely?’ and ‘What on earth?’ The outcome is the new generation of memes, occasionally dark and often straight to the point.
Union of the Impossible. “In the net”. 2021. Oil on canvas. 70 cm. X 50 cm.
Memes have been dubbed ‘the virus of the mind’. When all is said and done, only something apt and incisive will not fail to grab one’s attention in the influx of information that is today’s life. In troubled times, people use different avenues to protect their sanity, with artists, predictably, resorting to art. Union of the Impossible was formed during the lockdown with the mission to create works that were uncharacteristic of each individual member, and the ‘new memes’ swiftly became one of their directions. At one point over a century ago, Dada sprang up as a response to WWI with its unjustified cruelties. In 2020, artists are bringing the Dada principles back to life, repurposing them for the new circumstances: the pandemic that has the entire world under siege. Whilst Dadaists propelled anti-aesthetics, Union of the Impossible provokes and baffles the audience with its memes.
Union of the Impossible. “Headphone”. 2021. canvas. oil. 50cm x 40cm.
Most of these ‘new memes’ are presented in white frames that are part of each picture and resemble Polaroid shots. This is both a hint at exclusivity because Polaroids are one-of-a-kind and an act of opposition to the replicated Internet memes.
Union of the Impossible. “Premonition”. oil on canvas, 60×50 cm, 2021
