The Open Crate

Pedro Ruxa depicts a fictional mechanism, mixing inspirations from the Wheel of Fortune of Tarot cards, the color wheel of Isaac Newton, modular synthesizers and Zénobe Gramme's dynamo, and thus creates his personal Wheel of Fortune.

If the structure used by Isaac Newton in his color wheel is kept, the symbols are Ruxa's invention, bringing symbols from different eras and cultures all together for his purpose. We see a peace sign, a broken heart, the infinity symbol, as well as the Greek alpha and omega, which are often used as symbols for beginning and end in esoteric culture. This wheel is connected to a complex system of wires, buttons, screens, and lights, and has a small wooden handle, suggesting that it's our intervention that would activate the imaginary device. The Wheel refers to the idea that life, and everything that happens to us, is subject to ups and downs, with moments of sadness and joy, war and peace. One of Ruxa's most intricate and complex paintings to date, this work refers to the history of colour and perception; the electric devices are connected with emotional purposes, the emergence of light, and the subjective interpretation of symbolic language.