arco madrid 2025

“Lines of Appearance and Absence”

For ARCO Madrid 2025, Galeria Raquel Arnaud presents a provocative dialogue between the practices of Carla Chaim and Waltercio Caldas, exploring the concept of line as a means of appearance and absence. This interaction reveals a profound reflection on form, gesture, and the dichotomy of presence and absence.

Waltercio Caldas transforms drawing into a visual experiment that challenges conventional aesthetic appreciation. His works stand out for their precision and economy of means, manifesting a visual intelligence that highlights the performance of appearance. By manipulating the line, Caldas questions the Platonic ideal of drawing, creating an austere aesthetic that redefines the horizon of possibility. His drawings not only represent forms; they become graphic objects that incorporate memory, merging linearity with three-dimensionality. Each line serves as a point of tension between the visible and the invisible, challenging the viewer to reconsider perception and interpretation of form.

Carla Chaim, on the other hand, uses the line to manifest the energy and vibration of the body in motion, transforming it into an expression of rebellion and deterritorialization. In her works, the line transcends mere visual traces, becoming an exclamation of presence that reflects the tension between the body and the social environment. Chaim does not limit herself to representing personal biographies; she emphasizes the intensity of the body as a battleground and site of experimentation, where gesture mirrors the artistic process and defines mediality. Her selection of works reveals how gesture acts as active and reflexive communication, exposing the visuality of time within the artwork. Adopting an Aristotelian perspective, Chaim’s drawings become vestiges of bodily movements, evoking the body’s presence even in physical absence. This body, while absent, is claimed through the scale of the drawings and the gesturality that imposes an active and political dialogue with society. In the exhibition space, the works of Caldas and Chaim establish a visual confrontation and complementarity.

The viewer is guided through a path that reveals the line as a means of appearance and absence, merging Caldas’s austere precision with Chaim’s visceral energy. This experience reflects how lines can transform the perception of body and space. Importantly, although from distinct generations, Chaim and Caldas engage with the rich constructivist history of Brazilian art, an emphasis that Galeria Raquel Arnaud values. This connection allows for two distinct readings of Brazilian art history, facilitating a broader reflection on their practices and contributions.