Nara Roesler is pleased to present Cross-cuts, an exhibition curated by Luis Pérez-Oramas unfolding in five different installations to inaugurate the gallery’s new location in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, on view from January 12 through February 13, 2021. The show was envisioned as a means to focus on the richness and variety of the Roesler portfolio by highlighting nine significant artists: Antonio Dias, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Berna Reale, Cristina Canale, Karin Lambrecht, Maria Klabin, Milton Machado, Artur Lescher, and Tomie Ohtake.
“Cross-cuts proposes chapters focusing on a specific body of work by an individual artist or a conversation between two or three artists. We believe in an open-minded observation of art capable of discovering, through meaningful juxtapositions, in a comparative and analogical way, new meanings that could amplify their aesthetic and political resonance,” states Luis Pérez-Oramas, Senior Curatorial Director.
Each of the exhibition’s installations address outstanding issues that concern contemporary art in both Brazil and the United States. The intertwining of art and politics within post-conceptual practices is seen through the paintings of Antonio Dias and his iconic series The Illustration of Art, from the 1970s. The conversation around the social significance of monuments in public space and the politics of violence is examined through sculptures from Paul Ramirez Jonas’ Ventriloquists series (2013) and video and photographic documentation from Berna Reale’s Palomo (2013) performance. The resilience of figurative and post-expressionist contemporary painting is displayed through the works of three Brazilian painters: Cristina Canale’s compositions that embrace the figurative and the abstract; Maria Klabin’s distinct depiction of figure and landscape; and Karin Lambrecht’s multicolor immersive abstraction. The articulation between sculpture, architecture, and landscape in a post-industrial world is implied by Milton Machado’s steel metal drawer sculpture Stack (2009) and Artur Lescher’s Rivers series (2018-19) of works made with straps of felt or steel. The unification of writing and abstraction is embodied in the calligraphic sculptures and color field and line paintings of Tomie Ohtake’s landmark late body of work.
A selection of works by other artists currently represented by the gallery will also be shown in an adjacent gallery. Alongside these works will be a collection of publications and digital and print ephemera about the gallery’s history, artists, and program.
Each chapter of Cross-cuts is discussed by Luis Pérez-Oramas in a live presentation on the gallery's YouTube channel. Watch the past presentations:
Due to the circumstances imposed by the health protocols related to the Covid-19 crisis, the gallery will be open to a limited number of visitors. Advance appointments are encouraged but not required.
