Intersected Horizons at Molaa
ALEXANDRE ARRECHEA: INTERSECTED HORIZONS
By Gabriela Urtiaga, MOLAA Chief Curator
The Museum of Latin American Art is pleased to present Alexandre Arrechea: Intersected Horizons, the first solo museum show in California that explores the artistic practices of the well-known and multidisciplinary artist Alexandre Arrechea (1970). A contemporary Afro-Cuban artist based between Spain and the USA for more than two decades and the former co-founder of the Los Carpinteros collective (from 1999 to 2003).
In this exhibit, Arrechea’s method of transgressing the limits of traditional artifacts and materials as a point of examination is redefined as a social and political exploration that melds art, history, and archaeological forms.
His work, including paintings, installations, sculptures, photographs, and video art, introduces us to crucial questions about individual and collective memories and public and private experiences. Pushing the boundaries and enriching the language of art with a solid commitment to his time, Alexandre Arrechea addresses topics including culture, identity, and representation, from his native Trinidad, his early adulthood in Havana, to the last decades of living and working around the world.
This exhibition is significant because it approaches the creative process of this multidisciplinary artist. We experience his unique vision and transformation of daily objects and materials as he investigates the relationship between objects, architecture, materiality, and the human body. His juxtaposition of messages and concepts, which subverts typical conceptual and physical interpretations, is presented as an immersive experience where boundaries between eras are blurred, and the artist’s thinking is shown as a cohesive whole, with pauses and reflections of his daily experiences as an individual but also as part of the community.
It will introduce us to his ideas about the social implications of his hybrid objects, which expose the process and rebirth of art-making material between the creation and the representation of different elements with open meanings.
This project includes various works spanning his long career and creates dialogues with new works that address contemporary questions. All are linked with historical references and traditions from Cuba, his country of origin, which has always been a nexus of culture, history, and international thought. The show also examines artworks that challenge preconceived categories in the contemporary scene, with a theoretical framework of erasing the boundaries between painting, sculptures, installation, and the viewers, making Alexandre Arrechea: Intersected Horizons an experience in experimental practice.
Opening 08/09/2013