On view
May 5 – June 11, 2016
Opening Reception Thursday May 5, 6 – 8 PM
Cara Gallery is pleased to present Call the Bluff, a visual narrative by Italian born artist Beatrice Scaccia.
The exhibition will present a new body of work featuring the mysterious world of faceless characters, conceived and realized specifically for the gallery space throughout the last few months. After working with drawings and animations for several years, the artist presents, for the first time, paintings on canvas.
A sequence of big drawings (realized with graphite, gesso, wax and the use of an iron) acts as a sort of antechamber for a more dramatic, darker staging, in which hugs are lost, theatricality is more evident and the sense of any certainty slowly vanishes; some objects instead come into sight as attendants-remains. Along with the drawing sequence are some ceramics by Toshiaki Noda that interact with the images.
Often obsessed with aimless movements, garments and patterns, the artist persistently examines human nature in an existential way. In these works, some of which of considerable dimensions, figures are suspended in the attempt of interacting or resting. They are all immersed in an uncompleted action over a light dark gold background.
Scaccia’s characters hide behind oversized coats and striped socks; some of them hold a pillow and some others hold another being. In each frozen moment, these characters carry a weight we are all familiar with: a weight that has to do with our blank essence, our anonymous consciousness, and our daily charade. Marcel Proust describes it well when he writes that there are times we feel the framework of our personality. We wake up every morning and we have to remember who we really are.
Call the Bluff reveals the unsubstantial, the unreality, the vacuum, and the pantomime. Scaccia’s characters almost appear like some lost, overwhelmed performers from no-where.
