Arcana 16

Arcana 16, 2023 by Monika Bravo
From The Series Arcana
Archival digital print

"Arcana" stems as a series of unique studies for an upcoming commissioned glass/metal wall at the Interdisciplinary Engineering building at the University of Washington in Seattle. Whimsical elements in vibrant colors interact with geometric silhouettes, inspired by Oskar Schlemmer's Triad ballet and Josef Albers' pedagogical experiments from the Bauhaus era; they also incorporate historical engineering tools.
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Bravo uses multiple treatments of the image, that the artist relates to a specific place, this correspondence between space and transformation has led her practice to focus on the analysis of the places where she lives physically and emotionally, as a result, the works dwell between the document and the anecdotal.

Monika Bravo examines the notion of perception by questioning whether the world we live in, is but a mental construction; her artistic practice is used as a tool to decipher the laws that govern the world she lives in. Through this survey, she creates objects by incorporating still, moving, audio and interactive images to generate situations where she can materialize and communicate her emotional state. She wants to challenge the audience’s own perception of what they consider real by generating a platform where they are induced to connect by exploring, interacting, and at times by focusing on an object-place- scene for a duration of time in a manner that is both meditative and investigative.

Monika Bravo is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Bogotá, Colombia, who lives and works in Miami. In 1982, Bravo left Bogotá, moving to Rome to study fashion design, which she continued in Paris at Esmod, before traveling to London to study photography. In 1994 she moved to New York. Her work has received acclaim including a 1999 New York Times review which called her piece Synchronicity (from a group exhibition at El Museo del Barrio) a "standout...small, beautifully blurry video images of boats plowing through New York Harbor..." Recent exhibitions: Rubin Museum, the power of intention, 56th Venice Biennale representing the Vatican City-State, at the Pavilion of the Holy See. TESSERAE curated by Octavio Zaya is shown at Flora Ars Natura, Bogota, and Johannes Vogt, NYC, Saro Leon, Gran Canaria. Everyday Alchemy, curated by Andrea Hinteregger De Mayo at Von Bartha Gallery, Base; WOVEN Xaviera Simmons, Artist & Guest Curator in conjunction with Liz Christensen, Deutsche Bank, 60 Wall Gallery, NYC, “VICTORY OVER THE SUN” at Museo de Arte Moderno de Barranquilla, “Waterweavers” exhibit curated by Jose Roca, and Museo de las Americas in Washington D.C, Centro Conde Duque in Madrid, Spain; originally installed at the Bard Graduate Center.