In a mesmerizing installation at Baert Gallery, Adam Tylicki imbues us with a sense of goodness to the natural motion of ocean swells, of sea currents, of powers which move beyond the capabilities of man, with his ’20 atmospheres’ exhibition at Baert Gallery. The exhibition is first a portrayal of the cryptic achievements of submerging the metallic works in a cage, the kind one would see on a National Geographic documentary where scuba divers’ film the underwater wildlife such as sharks, squid, octopus, schools of fish, etc. Yet it is through the playfulness of creating new acoustical perceptions, out of the transcendental formation of metallic shapes which are not necessarily bludgeoned as they are moved into the final configurations which are left in shimmering fulfillment in the second exhibition room.

It is in this inspection of movement where we can bring delight to the mind. As clearly, we are not considering disconfiguration of the original consistency of the metal when it is worked by motion that spans hundreds of millions of years. For who would judge ocean currents to be malevolent forces? These are the same swirls which concoct the first photosynthesis, the first fins, the first eyes, the first movers of cell life. Who would judge the sea as life-giver to be corrupt in its conception?

36°54.79’N • 7°48.79’W NO. 7, 2022
Stainless steel
25 x 25 1/2 x 8 in
63.5 x 64.8 x 20.3 cm

36°54.79’N • 7°48.79’W NO. 3, 2022
Stainless steel
39 x 6 x 6 in
99.1 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm

The astonishment in Mr. Tylicki’s artistry is in the contentment of the tempering of the metal, as an inarticulable medium of balance between strain and virginity. At what point does the artist find satisfaction in the oscillations of the salty water and the cage’s own impersonal animation towards producing an idea of “good”? Certainly, when the metal has resigned itself, it has submitted to a higher power, thereby granting it with plasticity as an idea of availability.

36°54.79’N • 7°48.79’W NO. 2, 2022
Stainless steel
18 x 14 1/2 x 10 in
45.7 x 36.8 x 25.4 cm

It is in the introduction of gentle curvature with the appearance of gift-wrapping curls around the edges of the glorious glistening which certifies a necessary harmonious finish with the adventurous curiosity by Mr. Tylicki. And this is what makes this art creative rather than destructive – by daring to possibly damage, we are instead graced with the actuality of a new idea of beauty for the minds of mankind to austerely savor. The works are stern with the acceptance that an ending with more limits of possibility is created from the necessarily larger extension of space imposed by the Natural World’s viscous vigor. Let Nature do the work is a wonderful testimony toward inviting beauty into our lives.