Soledad Arias' Picks
Guido Van Der Werve: Nummer Acht, Everything Is Going To Be Alright.
MoMA's collection - Temporal exhibit
In his film Nummer Acht, Everything Is Going To Be Alright (2007), Guido Van Der Werve relentlessly walks towards the camera. He is being followed by an enormous icebreaker ship, somewhere off the coast of Finland. It is an uninterrupted journey that appeals to me in its apparent uselessness. I love this solitary act that seduces the viewer in its incongruous syntax, in which the artist‘s presence is sustained yet threatens to disappear in front of our eyes under thin ice.
Pace Gallery - 4/26 - 6/22/13
As part of her exhibit, Maya Lin’s poses the question: “What is missing?” raising awareness on the planet’s ecological history. In a darkened room of the gallery, projected text crawls on the surface of the walls drawing data from the history of the Hudson River and its environmental crisis. An interactive website presents to visitors the possibility to add a memory, contributing with their own stories of what has been lost in the natural world. This participatory aspect of the project that is intimate yet public calls our attention to see things differently in the world around us.
James Cohan Gallery - 5/2 - 6/15/2013
Finch’s romantic observation of nature is translated in a site-specific installation, drawing, and sculpture. In Mars (Noon Effect), the filtered glass panels of the gallery window allow the daylight to recreate the color of light in Mars as measured by NASA. The effect is subdued and sensual, and is accurate at a certain time of the day.
I am drawn to this act of translation that goes beyond the realm of language, where the quality of light of a remote site is lyrically replicated in the gallery space. Inspired by David Thoreau’s sounding of Walden Pond a 120 foot-long rope meanders on the floor of the gallery depicting 298 subtle watercolor swatches that record the depth and color of the pond’s water.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lives and works in New York, NY.
Soledad Arias explores the materiality of language as well as its poetic, phonetic and visual dimensions within the context of human condition. Her work induces an element of interactivity and viewer participation by constructing open-ended narratives through text and linguistic elements.
Arias has exhibited her work in galleries and museums both nationally and abroad. Her work has been featured in numerous institutions including MOMA PS1 (New York), Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Jersey City Museum (New Jersey), Socrates Sculpture Park (New York), El Museo del Barrio (New York) and The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York). Arias’ work is included in private collections in Latin America, Europe, Japan, and the United States.