Paloma Bosquê, Inventory, Mendes Wood DM

13 Rue des Sablons / Zavelstraat, Brussels
6 September – 20 October, 2018

Inventory, the title of Bosquê’s first solo exhibition at Mendes Wood DM in Brussels, is a title that goes some way to explaining the variety of matter selected in the sculptural works on display. The material vocabulary includes elements such as brass, lead, handmade felt, cast bronze, coal, wool, and even diaphanous sheets of tripe – deployed with no little beauty, most often in compositional arrangements of two or three of the above and arrayed with a rigour reminiscent of the tropes of minimalist practice.

Upon closer inspection the works (scrutinised at near ground-level as opposed to up on a plinth and the system of value(s) implied therein) adopt more mysterious identities. Possessed of alluring and compelling surfaces, textures and colours, the works speak simultaneously of both earthiness and preciousness. This enigma stems initially from the works’ totemic presences and the posing of certain formal questions inherent in these arrangements. However, the sheer cogent simplicity of the arrangements invariably keeps our attention focussed on the materials, and whether the forms might instead be physical remnants of material culture, or an archaeology and anthropology study related to such, and thus perhaps originally purposed for some kind of physical, shamanistic or ritual function. It is within this tension that the strengths of the work lies, or as Fernanda Brenner puts it “between the mystery of matter and the potential meaning of form”.

On view until October 20th 2018.


About Mendes Wood DM
Mendes Wood DM was founded in 2010 by partners Felipe Dmab, Matthew Wood and Pedro Mendes with the intent to exhibit international and Brazilian artists in a context conducive to critical dialogue and cross-pollination. Central to the gallery’s program is a concern for regional difference and individuation while fostering cosmopolitanism and collaboration. Inspired by a belief that artistic practices broaden the scope of human agency and have the power to both touch and change the world, Mendes Wood DM cultivates a program premised on conceptualism, political resistance and intellectual rigor.

Gallery website
mendeswooddm.com


About Paloma Bosquê
Paloma Bosquê (Garça, 1982) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.
Her most recent solo exhibitions include O Oco e a Emenda, Pavilhão Branco, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon (2017); Field, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2016); O Incômodo, Pivô, São Paulo (2015). Additionally, her work has been included in institutional group exhibitions as the Brasile. Il coltello nella carne, Pac – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2018); Bienal de Coimbra, Coimbra (2017); Mycorial Theatre, Pivô, São Paulo (2016); Projeto Piauí, Pivô, São Paulo (2016); Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist, The Jewish Museum, New York (2016); United States of Latin America, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2015).

Artist website
palomabosque.com

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