NOTHING IN ISOLATION: CURATED BY GISELA GUEIROS | Ana Bial, Maria Lynch, Alejandro Pintado, Martín La Roche, Alice Quaresma, Sári Ember, Bianca Kann, Diana Rojas, Ignacio Gatica, Julia Kater, Manuela Costalima, Juan Sebastián Pelaez
Press Release
The artists in the exhibition, Nothing In Isolation, all have roots in Latin America. But rather than focus on a singular identity, artists are paired, to celebrate the importance of dialog. The dialogues are sometimes aesthetic, sometimes cultural, sometimes conceptual, but, above all, use art to model the urgent need today for conversation.
Ana Bial (Brazil, 1987) & Maria Lynch (Brazil, 1981)
This pair, as the only artists showing paintings in the exhibition, makes a connection through medium. But both their work in general share an open ended reading – they flirt with the absurd while creating friction between the figurative and abstract. Lynch describes it as: “a fascination with innocence and the ludic, a mix of fear, feminity and memory”. It is a fantastic reality.
Alejandro Pintado (Mexico, 1973) & Martín La Roche (Chile, 1988)
The installations of Pintado and La Roche both work on the principle that multiple parts gain force when presented together as one – the whole greater than the sum. For Pintado, the array of geometric shapes in Particles reference Newton’s treatise first describing light as particles rather than waves. La Roche’s collection of rubber erasers, one of his collections of quotidian objects he began in 2013, project their own cosmology when shown as a group.
Alice Quaresma (Brazil, 1985) & Sári Ember (Brazil, 1985)
Paper, collages, cutouts and overlapping shapes define the works of Quaresma and Ember presented here. Further, both artists pursue their final work through experimentation. They expand the importance of process.
Bianca Kann (Brazil, 1995) & Diana Rojas (Colombia, 1993)
This pairing revolves around the medium – they both work in ceramic – and the social – they share a studio and both have twin sisters. As well, the freedom of their expression together with very current pop references brings a fresh and powerful quality to their work.
Ignacio Gatica (Chile, 1988) & Julia Kater (France, 1980)
The making of an artwork by removal of material, creating negative spaces, appears in the works of both Kater and Gatica. In Kater’s photos the edges of the cutouts gives us a hint of what was there. As for Gatica, he is interested in the fragmentation of language, and undermining what consumes our present condition. Both artists engage the viewer in a dialog as well, demanding our imagination complete the images.
Manuela Costalima (Brazil, 1983) & Juan Sebastián Pelaez (Colombia, 1982)
Both Costalima and Pelaez create readymade sculptures that target the inherent tensions in the laws that govern us, both laws of nature and laws of society. Costalima's sculptures test the laws of physics while she creates an unlikely pas de deux between two rocks. Without a metal clamp, the parts would collapse as they relent to the the laws of physics. For Pelaez, his sculptures merge seemingly unrelated objects and distort their intended function. For this exhibition, stolen car mirrors become security surveillance cameras that capture our reflections.
About the Curator
Gisela Gueiros has a Masters in Art History from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York, and has organized more than 20 exhibitions of emerging artists in New York City and São Paulo.