Last Sunday, February 9, the solo show “New Discoveries” at gallery Untitled festively ended.

Kris Berry introduced her new album with a series of beautiful songs. Her song “Perfect Storm“ coincidentally matched the weather outside the gallery. Ciara was right at that moment raging over the Netherlands.

This time Raoul Deleo was interviewed by Kees Moeliker, the director of the Museum of Natural History of Rotterdam. They’ve known each other from several previous occasions and the chemistry between the two resulted in an amusing conversation, shedding light on the controversies and dilemmas involved when discovering and exploring a new continent.

This winter, Raoul Deleo encountered an impressive new specimen in the damp misty jungles of Southern Terra Ultima. After long observations involving an immense amount of patience, Deleo was able to create a painting that lives up to the majestic appearance of this animal.

The scientific name of the animal will be Dromopterix elephoenicus. In English the Fleeing Elephoenix. The specimen and the painting of the animal will be officially introduced at gallery Untitled during Deleo’s “New Discoveries” art show .

Last Sunday Raoul Deleo’s solo show “New Discoveries” opened at gallery Untitled, at the Koningsveldestraat in Rotterdam. The exhibition shows new Terra Ultima paintings that arose from two expeditions to the mysterious continent undertaken by Deleo this year.

The opening was accompanied by the wonderful musical soundscapes by Susobriono.

To introduce the audience to the continent of Terra Ultima, Roland Vonk interviewed Deleo about the whereabouts, the wildlife and other specific details encountered by Deleo on his travels through this unknown territory.

One and a half week ago Raoul Deleo returned from an expedition to Terra Ultima funded and commissioned by the University of Amsterdam. Before departure, he browsed for inspiration through their impressive heritage collection and laid eyes on many precious natural historic objects.

With all these beautiful items in the back of his mind, he arrived, at the end of this summer, at Terra Ultima and after two weeks he encountered a new species that really intrigued him. The animal harbours multiple ways to look at it and reminded him of an image used in an experiment by psychologist Joseph Jastrow. Jastrow concluded that in the act of seeing we use our brain as much as our eyes. So while perceiving the world around us it might be important to be aware of the difference between what we “know” and what we “see”.

The painting Deleo made of this animal was presented yesterday at the University and will be included in the VU art collection. 
Deleo: “I hereby introduce, to the rest of the world, a new species named Pinguilagus peusdopticus (Eng. Lapin Guin). Hopefully you too will share the same fascination that I had when discovering this captivating and beguiling animal.”