Another Gesture/Um Otro Gesto/Eine Weitere Geste/
Veronika Hilger, Svenja Kreh, Alice Quaresma, Teresa Viana
Curated by alumnae Cynthia Cruz and Tatiane Santa Rosa (both Class of 2015)

August 3–August 20, 2017
Opening Reception: August 3rd, 6-8pm
A.I.R. Gallery

A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Another Gesture/ Um Outro Gesto/Eine weitere Geste/ a group exhibition with Veronika Hilger, Svenja Kreh, Alice Quaresma, and Teresa Viana, curated by Cynthia Cruz and Tatiane Santa Rosa. The artists will be presenting recent work, in a variety of mediums, such as oil painting, drawing, textile, photography, and mixed media. This is Hilger’s and Viana’s first exhibition in New York City.

The notion of “another gesture” suggests a two-fold approach. First, one that moves away from the dominant male legacy of abstract expressionism, in which gesture was used to champion the uniqueness of painting as a medium. The artists cling to the idea of gesture not only as a visual element but also as a conceptual vehicle for humor, refusal, narrative, and memory. Second, within the word “another” there is a play with the idea of being an other to someone, a reference to the otherness that haunts historical relationships between Brazil and Germany. Ties that are mostly known in regards to colonial expeditions and German immigration to Brazil.

Although these diicult historical ties are always present, in Another Gesture/ Um Outro Gesto/Eine weitere Geste/ the curators invite these female artists to tell their own stories and, to create alternative narratives through the idea of “gesture” as a generative theme. While Teresa Viana’s drawings filter the chaotic urban landscapes of São Paulo, regurgitating and transforming them into an accumulation of gestures, Veronika Hilger’s paintings might be called dreamscapes grounded in landscape rather than landscapes, abstracted. If, on one hand, Svenja Kreh’s works on paper show dystopian portals and religious imagery through her references to early German painters, on the other, Alice Quaresma combines photography and abstract painting to playfully comment on the legacies of Brazilian Neo-Concretism and its importance. Another Gesture/ Um Outro Gesto/Eine weitere Geste/ becomes an open-ended, consciously ambiguous, and fluid space, in which these artists, from dierent backgrounds, can navigate.

Veronika Hilger was born in Prien am Chimsee and lives in Munich. She studied at the Universität Augsburg and received prizes from the Erwin and Gisela Steiner Stiung and the city of Munich’s Atelierstipunden. Recent shows include the Akademie der Bildendedn Künste and at the kd3g Projektraum, both in Munich. For more on the artist visit: http://www.veronika-hilger.com/
Svenja Kreh was born in Stuttgart and lives in Berlin. She studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and received awards from the Columbus Art Foundation and the Deutscher Kunstfonds, Kulturestiung des Bundes. Recent solo exhibits’ venues include Galerie Kai Hoelzner, Berlin and Mansarovar, Simultanhalle, Köln. For more on the artist visit: http://www.kaihoelzner.de/artists/kreh/kreh.html
Alice Quaresma was born in Rio de Janeiro and lives in New York. She received an MFA from Pratt Institute and in 2014 she was awarded with the renowned Foam Talent Prize in Amsterdam. Recent exhibits include Escape, Le Magazyn, Los Angeles, USA, 2017 and Outsider, SUL-SUR Project, ArtLima, Lima, Peru 2017. For more on the artist visit: http://www.alicequaresma.com/
Teresa Viana was born in Rio de Janeiro and lives in São Paulo. She studied at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage and received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2001. Recent exhibits include Elas: mulheres artistas no acervo do MAB, Museum of Brazilian Art, São Paulo, 2016, and a solo show at Centro Cultural São Paulo, 2015. For more on the artist visit: http://www.teresaviana.com.br For more information on the show visit: www.anothergesture.com