During kunstRAI, we will show a solo presentation with work by Carmen Schabracq (Amsterdam 1988). The artist creates paintings, sculptural installations, masks and performances in which the theatricality of life plays an important role. She gathers stories from various myths, traditions and her own experiences and uses them to create collage-like visual narratives. The mask is a recurring object and theme in her work, which she uses to explore the complexity of human identity. A mask is a tool within a ritual or performance, to become 'the other' and she plays with this in various ways.

Her work is also a form of escapism because of the characters she places in spaces of colour. A way to briefly escape from this world and imagine yourself in another, full of playfulness and humour, to deal with the layered reality of life and death. Just as folkloric rituals and traditions do, for instance in the celebration of the seasons, to propitiate the gods, scare off demons and devils or celebrate fertility. Schabracq's work is a stylised theatre of her own cosmos, with references from art history and folklore such as costumes.

Art history

At the fair, Schabracq will show several new paintings in which she drew inspiration from art history in a broad sense. Many art historical references can be discovered in her new works. For example, in the work Bosch Play, a vanitas painting of a playful theatrical scene, where visual elements have been quoted from the work of Hieronymus Bosch. The works Sandra and Zeeland Self-Portrait, in turn, contain a clear reference to classical portrait painting, focusing on the attire worn by those portrayed. 

Mythological stories can also be found in her new works. In Kalliope the Muse, we see characters from Greek mythology that appeal to the artist. In this case, Midas with the donkey ears and Kalliope, one of the muses and daughter of Zeus. This character is mixed with a real person: the half-Greek Kelly, who was recently an intern with Carmen and was her muse for this painting.

Naivety

In some paintings such as in Nocturnal Tears, Schabracq embraces the naivety of her painting, much like painters like Henri Rousseau. In other works, it is elements like the title or the background of the work that refer to other artists. As in Feeding Myself the Milk of Dreams, where the title refers to Leonora Carrington and the background of the canvas is inspired by a mosaic from Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden.

Combined in a booth, the works take you on a journey through art history and the artist's theatrical experience. The presentation forms a place to marvel and beautifully escape from the world of everyday life.

Yellow Magenta Greenhouse
At the sculpture park of KunstRAi we present Yellow Magenta Greenhouse, by Rotterdam artist Johan Kleinjan (NL, 1974). He began construction this greenhouse made entirely of panels in 2021. Each of the panels is individually painted on the inside with plants in fluorescent colors. Hanging inside the greenhouse are UV lamps that make the work glow. There are also LED lights hanging, allowing you to view the work in its "normal" colors. Visitors can operate these lights themselves.

Silhouettes of plants can be seen on the outside, making it an inverted greenhouse, where plants grow in the darkness. With this, Kleinjan is referring to the psychedelic sixties and seventies hippies who started growing tropical plants. But also to discos in summer vacation paradises like Lloret de Mar. The plants depicted are what the artist calls "crisis plants. These are plants left on the street that he cares for in his studio. He draws them with pastel chalk to give them eternal life on paper.