Panel show: we quiz Venezuelan artist Ricardo Alcaide about his show exploring urban borders
Ricardo Alcaide’s fascination with urban architecture runs deep. His work considers buildings as physical manifestations of complexity, contrast and tension, looking beyond the structure and aesthetics of the built environment, and taking on its relationship to local social and economic realities. The Venezuelan artist has spent years immersing himself in the environments of capital cities Caracas, London and Madrid, and more recently São Paulo, where he now lives.
As he prepares to stage a major as-yet-untitled exhibition at the von Bartha gallery in Basel, Alcaide is in an introspective mood, musing on the show’s theme of interrupted space: ‘I have been working around issues of urban spatial conflicts. Also instability; spatial interaction, inclusion and exclusion, boundaries not only physical but also sociological and psychological.’
He explains that barriers and blockages will be a key focus of the show, examined through an abstract lens. Working across a range of mediums, from paintings and collages to sculptures and large-scale installations, most of the artworks on display will be created especially for the exhibition, the inaugural show in von Bartha’s freshly renovated space. ‘All the pieces will complement each other, and some have been created specifically for the gallery. I intend to create pieces that are in conversation with the space itself,’ Alcaide explains. He is particularly excited about a new work of a kind he has never worked on before, combining cast concrete with colourful small-format monochromes – also untitled.
On entering the gallery, the first architectural barrier visitors will encounter is a floor installation formed of approximately 700 painted bricks, obstructing both the space and the exhibition itself – it will have to be physically crossed to gain access to the show. Alcaide’s stark industrial panel pieces will also feature heavily, endowing discarded construction materials with a new functionality. Applying industrial polyurethane paint to MDF boards, shiny rock-hard surfaces are produced that reveal every mark of his process. These are among the most challenging artworks made for the exhibition, he explains, as ‘the process involves a great deal of manipulation I have to do on my own. Also, working with a polyurethane paint with a catalyser creates loads of tense moments: one mistake can spoil hours or even days of work.’
Another installation sees Alcaide repurpose commonplace metal shelving, introducing an artistic dimension to an otherwise ‘empty’ structure with created elements placed alongside found objects, many of which he sources from around São Paulo. ‘I find things out of the blue and have a very immediate response,’ he says. ‘I see beauty in meaningless-looking objects. In São Paulo there are construction sites everywhere, with caçambas [skips] full of rubbish.
I always look inside to see what they have for me.’ Those familiar with Alcaide’s art will be aware of his long-running fixation with modernist architecture, particularly that of Latin America. A fundamental aspect of his personal and cultural heritage (he cites Gio Ponti’s 1956 Villa Planchart in Caracas as a key inspiration), the complex relationship Alcaide has with the movement has heavily influenced much of the work he has produced in recent years. His studio, located in the heart of São Paulo among residences, offices and more deprived areas, puts Alcaide on the front line of the vast city’s complicated social system. Describing an anarchic no-man’s land of restricted zones, lawless communities and homeless citizens, who, deprived of help from the government, occupy the city’s empty buildings, he says, ‘The centre of São Paulo is a portrait of many different things at the same time –what I produce comes straight from these frictions’.
Pointing to the shelving compositions and panel paintings, he says, ‘Both works have strong modernist architecture references but represent urban conflict language. The exhibition is not only about barriers; it’s also about the tiredness of so-called progress.’ He pauses. ‘A lot of people say my work is about the failure of modernism, but that’s not what I want to say. My mixed feelings give a more realistic dimension to the discussion. The work sits in-between the idealism and the reality of modernism, creating tension.’
Does Alcaide define himself as a political artist? ‘I wouldn’t describe myself as political, but my work does contain indirect political elements, because it is part of the subjects that concern me most. I am very critical of my immediate surroundings and constantly challenged by them.’ Another pause. ‘This can be inspiring or disconcerting… but it makes me think.’
The von Bartha exhibition will be followed by participation in selected international art fairs and a small solo project at ArtGenève. But it’s spending time in his São Paulo studio that Alcaide is really looking forward to, accompanied by his dog Nacho. He is cheerfully laissez-faire about the future. ‘I never know what will come next. All I need to do is pay attention to everything around me until I see a sign to follow.’
As originally featured in the January 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*214)
INFORMATION
Ricardo Alcaide’s exhibition is showing at Von Bartha Basel from 13 January-18 March. For more information, visit the Von Bartha website
ADDRESS
Kannenfeldplatz 6
4056 Basel
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Art Basel Hong Kong 2024: what to see
Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 sees the fair back bigger and better than ever. Navigate the highlights with our guide
By Lauren Ho Published
-
This office interior by Faye Toogood is a communal space that encourages collaboration
The new Hato Studio London offices by Faye Toogood encourage IRL collaboration through a tactile environment
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Toyota bz4X SUV is the marque’s first pure electric vehicle
The Toyota bz4X is our first chance to explore how the long-standing masters of mass automobile production make an EV
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Oozing, squidgy, erupting forms come alive at Hayward Gallery
‘When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture’ at Hayward Gallery, London, is a group show full of twists and turns
By Hannah Silver Published
-
New glass sculpture creates a verdant wonderland at Apple’s Cupertino HQ
‘Mirage’ at Apple Park is the work of Zeller & Moye and artist Katie Paterson, a shimmering array of glass columns that snakes through the grounds of the company’s monumental HQ
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Erwin Wurm’s pop-coloured fantasy land at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
In Erwin Wurm’s first UK museum show, ‘Trap of the Truth’, the artist transforms Yorkshire Sculpture Park into a slightly warped wonderland (10 June 2023 – 28 April 2024)
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro transforms Fendi’s Rome HQ into a theatre of myth and magic
Fendi’s Roman HQ sets the scene for ‘Il Grande Teatro delle Civiltà’ a major show by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, who has also created a one-off edition of the house’s iconic Peekaboo bag. Read more in the July 2023 Issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands 8 June
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Superflex on building an underwater city for fish: ‘there are different rules down there’
Danish art collective Superflex discuss their ambitious Super Reef, an underwater urbanisation project aiming to restore more than 55 square kilometres of stone reef in Danish seas
By Alice Godwin Published