Pax Aliena

Long Story Short NYC is pleased to present Pax Aliena, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Brussels-based artist Jacopo Pagin. The exhibition features a group of recent works that explore themes of perception, mythology, and the shifting boundaries between the familiar and the unknown. At the center of the exhibition are enigmatic figures that appear at once alien and deeply human. Suspended within luminous, dreamlike environments, these presences occupy a space between recognition and estrangement, inviting viewers to reconsider how identity, difference, and connection are perceived. Rather than offering fixed narratives, the paintings create open-ended encounters in which meaning remains fluid and continually unfolds through looking. Drawing from a wide range of historical and visual references—from Renaissance painting and medieval iconography to contemporary science fiction and psychology—Pagin creates images that exist between recognition and estrangement. The exhibition's title suggests a condition of coexistence between distinct presences, a theme that runs throughout the series. The paintings in Pax Aliena are populated by enigmatic, alien-like figures whose presence feels simultaneously unfamiliar and deeply human. Rather than depicting extraterrestrial beings in a literal sense, Pagin uses these figures as vehicles for exploring perception, identity, and the ways we relate to one another. Inspired in part by Carl Jung's Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, the works suggest that images of the unknown often reveal as much about ourselves as they do about what lies beyond us. Rendered in oil and acrylic on canvas, the paintings unfold within luminous, atmospheric spaces where figuration and abstraction coexist. Diffused fields of color, gestural marks, and fragments of recognizable forms create environments that feel suspended between dream and reality. Throughout the exhibition, references to ancient Chinese painting traditions, Murano glass, flowers, shells, and other organic forms appear not as fixed symbols but as elements in a fluid network of relationships. A recurring concern throughout Pagin's practice is the instability of perception and the possibility that reality itself is composed of overlapping layers of meaning. His compositions invite viewers into spaces where time, memory, and identity remain open and unresolved. In Pax Aliena, peace is not presented as harmony or consensus, but as a fragile and ongoing condition in which distinct presences coexist while maintaining their individuality. Born in Vicenza, Italy, in 1988, Jacopo Pagin lives and works in Brussels. His multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation, investigating the ways images shape perception and collective experience. Recent projects include a residency with Fondation Hermès at the Cristallerie Saint-Louis in France, culminating in the solo exhibition Ruines de la Lumière at CEAAC, Strasbourg (2026). Recent solo exhibitions include Office Illusion at Make Room Gallery, Los Angeles (2024), Hidden Place at Public Gallery, London (2024), and Strategies Against Time at Pond Society, Singapore (2023). Across these varied bodies of work, Pagin has developed a distinctive visual language that brings together historical references, contemporary imagery, and dreamlike forms. In Pax Aliena, this ongoing investigation culminates in a series of paintings that invite viewers to consider unfamiliar forms of presence, connection, and coexistence.