1. The "Sublime" for the 21st Century Simeti directly references the 18th-century artistic concept of the "Sublime"—the feeling of awe mixed with terror when facing nature's power (think of a huge storm or a volcano). By placing this scene on domestic wallpaper, he moves that terror from the grand canvas into your living room. The danger isn't out there; it's on your walls.
2. The Aesthetics of Violence The piece is beautiful. The linework is delicate, the composition classical. You want to look at it. But the content is running, screaming, and collapsing. This creates a powerful psychological tension: Why are we so comfortable decorating our spaces with images of collapse? (Think of how popular "ruin porn" or post-apocalyptic entertainment is). la ritirata 2009 install
3. The "Loop" as a Historical Comment The repeating pattern suggests that history is not linear but a cycle. The retreat, the disaster, the collapse—it happens, then it resets, and it happens again. For a 2009 work, this was a potent commentary on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the financial crash, and the constant 24-hour news cycle of catastrophe. The danger isn't out there; it's on your walls
Simeti is known for using wallpaper—specifically repeating, decorative patterns—as his primary medium. For La Ritirata, he covered the walls of a gallery space (often a large, classical room) with a custom-designed, panoramic wallpaper. The linework is delicate, the composition classical
What the wallpaper depicts: At first glance, it looks like a charming, antique 18th or 19th-century engraving of a forest, complete with classical ruins. But upon closer inspection, the scene is chaotic.
This is the most frequent issue. The 2009 textures are sensitive to memory limits.