Undertow

Carla Arocha- Stéphane Schraenen

KaBe Contemporary is pleased to present Undertow, the first solo exhibition in Miami by Belgium-based artists Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen. Arocha - Schraenen have produced for KaBe an installation which depicts their overarching practice on the issue of perception. Undertow is a site- specific post-modernist piece prompted by the very own gallery’s dimensions with a particular goal: to engage with the viewer in a game, by utilizing the appreciation of color, space and depth.

 

Arocha - Schraenen bring us in this exhibition a need to discover what is not on the surface, clear and ready to be observed. The viewer must explore within the artwork in order to extract what is most valuable, found in its Undertow. The composition which is based on gestalt - where the sum is greater than its individual parts - is especially inspired and dedicated to Miami. Undertow includes various allusions to the sunsets, glam, and coastal charm we enjoy in our city which are meant to be transmitted by the colorful pattern prints devised in homage to American Colorfield painters, such as Barnett Newman, Morris Louis, and mostly Ellsworth Kelly.

 

Just as Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen’s work is physically formulated to make us revaluate our concept of material reality, Undertow is also fashioned to make us guess which Miami is “real” and which one is just our own illusion of what reality should be.

Carla Arocha was born in Caracas, Venezuela and currently lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Stéphane Schraenen is a Belgian artist born in Antwerp, city where he currently lives and works. The two artists went public as a collective in the year 2007 with exhibitions such as Reflecting Surface presented in The Agency Gallery in London, and Fire Walk With Me in Mexico City, exhibition curated by Montserrat Albores.

 

Since 2007 they have also been showcased numerous times including the Brussels Biennial in 2008, Finissage Presentation in the Koraalberg Gallery in Antwerp, and The State of Things curated by Ai Wei Wei and Luc Tuymans in the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussles, both in 2009. 

 

Other works include a permanent installation in the new Howard Station in Chicago, Illinois, commissioned by the Chicago Transit Authority.