Yesterday (Apple Cores)

"Yesterday (Apple Cores)" is a drawing following the concept of making peace with the past.
The apple acts as a double edged symbol, both symbolising sin and the fruit of the mind i.e. ideas of yesterday. Though self-reflection is important, these items from the past still float around our minds even though they no longer exist. Illustrated as apple cores rather than fresh fruit, the artist represents facets of the past that have already been consumed and serve no current functional purpose. The various layers of clouds represent differing layers of internal atmosphere, are laid on a clear and airy landscape. The artist references the meditative qualities of taking a fresh breath of air and fresh perspective, ultimately encouraging acceptance. There is no sense of doom. Essentially the artist teaches us to accept the past with a sense of warm nostalgia.

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Eric Sesto (1995) is self-taught artist and muralist working dominantly in painting and drawing.

Sesto has painted public murals in six countries across Oceania, Central America and South America. Most notably, Sesto’s mural in Guayaquil, Ecuador became permanently conserved by the city in 2020.

Sesto embarked on two painting tours of Central and South America in 2017 and 2018 respectively. As a result, his 2018 exhibition at Neon Parlour “Planet Paradise” bore paintings that were bursting with vitality and colour. The improvised “free-flow” of this body took direct references the murals he painted and the photographs he captured of the region.

The artist’s 2019 body developed dramatically into a unique palette of colour dominated by hyper-red. Combining figurative portraiture with intense colour-field abstractions, Sesto became fascinated with the telecommunication network. The “One The Phone” series embodies the changing state of intimacy in our globalised world; and portrays an instance of people becoming hyper-emotional with technology.

The artist does not believe in art that is intended to push particular agendas or perspectives. The artist is instead intrigued by the ambiguity of imagery and the power of symbology. The work channels how intense visuals are able to be in their rawest state without the assistance of language to endow them power. Rather than a message, Sesto sees each painting as “an emotional cocktail of things we feel everyday”.

Sesto has a Bachelor of Architectural Design obtained from The University of Queensland, graduating in 2015.