David Bade, Natusha Croes and Ellen Spijkstra participate in group exhibition at MOLAA

Sat, Sep 16 - Mon, Sep 25  2017

From September 16, 2017, to February 25, 2018, the exhibition “Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago” will take place at the Museum of Latin American Art in Los Angeles. Works by Dutch David Bade, Natusha Croes, and Ellen Spijkstra will be on view. 

About “Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago” 

Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, curated by Tatiana Flores, is MOLAA’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA exhibition. It is a major survey exhibition of the twenty-first-century art of the Caribbean that employs the archipelago as an analytical framework. The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections: Conceptual Mappings, Perpetual Horizons, Landscape Ecologies and Representational Acts and features over 80 artists with roots  in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, and St. Vincent whose works have informed and shaped those themes.The exhibition includes painting, installation art, sculpture, photography, video, and performance.

David Bade 

David Bade was born in Curaçao in 1970. He is a sculptor, a painter, makes installations and drawings. His work is often large scale. In 2004 he initiated the successful art-project Arte Swa, using art to unite people from different backgrounds and age groups. A total of 150 participants worked together in an old monumental building at the Bargestraat in Scharloo. Together with Tirzo Martha and Nancy Hoffmann, he founded Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) in 2006 to create a platform for contemporary art in Curaçao. Although he leads a dynamic life which includes lots of traveling, Bade still finds time to guide, coach and inspire the young students at IBB.

Natusha Croes

Born in 1991 in Oranjestad, Aruba, Natusha Croes is a member of a family of musicians. After participating in many cultural events as a child growing up, she quickly gained a curiosity for other forms of expression and gradually developed her practice in the field of visual arts. She went on to study at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Netherlands, in the department of audiovisual arts, as well as at Ateliers ‘89, Aruba. Having returned back to Aruba, Croes participated in a number of exhibitions, conceptualized creative events as well as performed in different music venues in order to bring forward the practice of performance in contemporary art.
– Copyright SomoS & the artists 2011-2017. All rights reserved. http://www.somos-arts.org/natusha-croes/

Ellen Spijkstra

‘Traces from times long past play an important role in the work of ceramist and photographer Ellen Spijkstra, who has lived in Curaçao since 1980. She attended the Minerva Academy of Fine Arts in Groningen (The Netherlands) and more or less stumbled into photography by accident after moving to the island.(…) As soon as she arrived in Curaçao, she became fascinated by the stones that were washed up on its beaches so weathered by the course of time. That process of erosion and damage, combined with the rhythmic play of structure and form, are the essential hallmarks of her visual language. 

Museum of Latin American Art 

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded in 1996 in Long Beach, California and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art. Since its inception, MOLAA has doubled its size, added a 15,000 sq. ft. sculpture garden and expanded its permanent collection, ranging from works by Tamayo and Matta to Cruz-Diez, Los Carpinteros and Tunga. The Museum of Latin American Art expands knowledge and appreciation of modern and contemporary Latin American art through its Collection, ground-breaking Exhibitions, stimulating Educational Programs, and engaging Cultural Events.