NYAB Event - Soledad Arias "On Air"

Soledad Arias "On Air"

RH Gallery

This event has ended.

Soledad Arias’ text-based work explores the slippage of meanings in the aesthetic and literary reading of texts. The title of the exhibition, ON AIR, refers to live broadcasting relating to the dialog initiated by Arias’ work while also relating to the breath of air necessary for speech. The work explores the materiality of text as well as its poetic, visual and phonetic meanings within the context of dialogue and colloquial communication.

In four, thirty-three (2011), Arias references John Cage’s composition of the same name. Often referred to as Cage’s “silent” piece, the work consists only of environmental sounds for the duration of four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Arias translates her reading of Cage’s composition into a short
straight line of white neon light. In phonetic neon [ha] (2012), she records and translates the exclamative “ha” into a white neon sign resembling a sound
wave symbolizing the meaning of the word and its phonetic structure simultaneously.

In the series annotations (2011), Arias creates diagrams with stage directions for imaginary sets. By providing only the basic elements of a narrative, the viewer is left to construct a plot based on these cues. Drawn from spoken monologues which inspired annotations, Snippets (2009-2010) consists of graphic representations of the cadence of the artist’s voice.

In the acoustic wall series (2011-2012), Arias uses text to create an open-ended narrative. acoustic wall #1 (2011) is comprised of a series of phrases printed in vinyl such as “she whispers to herself,” “faint pause” or “gasps for air.” The phrases are arranged across a wall in order to direct viewers to construct their own narrative based on the rhythm and emotional content of the text. The series titled acoustic prints (2012) consists of extracted phrases from the acoustic wall series to produce a series of archival digital prints which combine and present the texts in yet another form.

Soledad Arias was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She currently lives and works in New York City. Arias was awarded a BFA and MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and she has exhibited her work in galleries and museums both nationally and abroad.