FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Magnan Metz Gallery is pleased to present the fifth solo exhibition for Alexandre Arrechea. The show will be on view from September 13 - October 11, 2014 with a reception for the artist from 6-8 pm on Friday, September 12th.

The often overlooked study and its relationship to the realized artwork have always been of significant importance to Alexandre Arrechea.  The two co-existed in the same space; it's the methodology that shows the natural process in creating the artwork.  Traditionally the first stands as the matrix of the second.  For this exhibition, however, Arrechea has turned the tables. The artist explains, "With The Map and the Fact I intend to rearrange this relationship with the objective to ask questions of our reality so the drawing in this project becomes a structure closer to the language of a map or a graphical representation of a given 'territory'.  The object is related to this simply through the construction of a section of that map."

Arrechea examines this idea from a mathematical, existential, and historical perspective creating a visual metaphor for Pre-Colombian cartography and how its "placement" of one continent over another was simply a construct used to illustrate power. The Map (7 ½ x 16 feet), a four panel watercolor lays out all four hemispheres and their continents on a blue that is reminiscent of the color of the sea.  The land forms are familiar but not easily discernible against the rippling surface of the oceans. 

From this drawing emerges The Fact¸ a sculptural installation in a sun-drenched yellowish orange hue.  The sculpture is positioned as a parenthesis, or fragment, of the drawing.  Although it owes its existence to the drawing, it is independent.  The viewer is left to consider the complexities of the fragment vs. the whole, global versus local or vice versa.  The small concentric circles floating atop the surface of the sculpture contain photographs of a single drop of water and honey representing the totality of life and all its sweetness.

Alexandre Arrechea was born in Trinidad, Cuba and graduated from the prestigious Superior Art Institute of Havana in 1994.  He was a founding member of the collective Los Carpinteros (1994-2003).  As a solo artist Arrechea has exhibited extensively in the US and abroad.  His work is currently exhibited in The Bronx Museum and Lehman College.  During the upcoming 2015 Havana Biennial Arrechea will have a solo show at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Most recently he presented No Limits, monumental sculptures along the Park Avenue Malls, that received much attention and a selection of the sculptures continue to travel to various public venues.  Arrechea participated in the 11th Havana Biennial (2012) and represented his homeland in the first ever Cuban Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011).  He was the Spring BAMbill cover artist and featured in the ¡Si Cuba! Festival at BAM (2011). 

For more information or images please contact the gallery at info@magnanmetz.com or 212.244.2344