Bianca Kann

Audio commentary

Ibirapuera

collector

Curator

gallerist

Gisela: How did you end up working with resin?
 
 Bianca: I began working with resin as a response to being frustrated with the fragility of ceramics. I wanted a material that emulated the feel of clay, where my touch was still visible, but that I could trust more. I like the playful nature of it too. It is sometimes transparent and other times, pigmented, and fun objects can be stuck to it.

Gisela Projects

Inhotim

Gisela: In the last show I’ve curated featuring your work, fresh out of college, you’ve spoken about how “creating things that don’t make sense is the only thing that makes sense to you”. How does absurdity play a part in your practice?


Bianca: I think it's the only way that feels natural to me when making things. I prefer to follow my intuition when creating, more than my sense of logic. Intuition is absurd.

Tatuagem

Gisela: We can see the wall through the work - and a space that is usually “hiding” behind artworks become an integral part of it. Could you talk about that?
 
 
Bianca: I see the wall as a canvas and my sculptures as drawings on it. They need each other to exist. I would like to experiment further by painting the wall and being even more playful with the negative space.

Untitled

Gisela: You’ve compared your work to playing chess...
 
 Bianca: I've never played chess, but I think it relates to my work in my very not understanding of it. The pieces are tiny sculptures on a beautiful checkered board, and they dance around, changing positions. With each move, they form new relationships with their neighbors, they form alliances or pose new threats depending on their surroundings. It is this dance or game between symbol, form and meaning that I find relatable, no matter what that meaning is.

Borboleta

Gisela: You present multiple disconnected symbols as part of the same flow — which we could say is reminiscent of the overload of information we see and take in from the internet. Is that something you reflect upon?
 
 
Bianca: YES. The overstimulation and overwhelmingness of the internet definitely holds space for absurdity and collapse of meaning. In virtual spaces, we often communicate visually through symbols or imagery with emojis, stickers, gifs, memes, etc. It’s fascinating how images can hold more power than narrative sometimes - it somehow can say more, be funnier, more mysterious or more nuanced. The title of this virtual show is “:)” - I wanted it to mimic and belong to the world it references: a virtual visual art show about symbols. :)

Alice

Gisela: We live in a time where we are bombarded by information and images. How would you describe the importance of silence?
 
 
Bianca: I don't love silence because that leaves me alone with my mind, which can be extremely noisy. Listening to some good music to distract me from myself has always been the best for me. I obviously struggle to meditate, but focusing on one thing at a time - one song, one sculpture, one book - can be very healing in these overstimulating times of toxic capitalist abundance and productivity.

São Paulo

Gisela: You put together multiple symbols — and they form connections. Could you talk about this collective image, or “dance” as you’ve referred to them?
 
 
Bianca: I'm interested in the malleability of meaning within form: how meaning is tied to and transformed by form. Elemental figures - such as a sun, a snake, a smiley face - are all simplistic and democratic. They are recognizable across cultural contexts yet are charged with diverse interpretations and symbolic significance. A snake form, for example, can be inviting aesthetically, threatening, or phallic. I'm interested in this plurality, and how context also affects form. In other words, by creating specific objects and placing them in groups, I hope to question or mock their preconceived connotations and collapse the relationship between sign, signifier and signified, leaving room for the absurd.

Pinheiros

Cerqueia Cesar

Bianca Kann plays Bachiana Brasileira n4 by Villa Lobos

Jardins

Barra Funda

Leve

Bianca Kann & Cooper Lovano

THE ALPINISTS

Isabella

Ovos

Sweet tooth

HAND HOLDING 

CAFFEINE 

Bianca Kann is a multimedia artist from Brazil working with clay, resin, silicon, sculpey, yarn, acrylic and oil paint. She received her BFA from NYU in 2017 and has participated in multiple group exhibitions in New York. In 2019, she attended Byrdcliffe residency in Woodstock, NY - famous for alumni such as Eva Hesse, Philip Guston and Bob Dylan. 
 

Kann is interested in how context can affect our perception of symbols. As the artist puts it, she hopes to question or mock their preconceived connotations, leaving room for the absurd. In her work, meaning is tied to and transformed by form. 
 

The accumulation and overflow of images, as well as the current culture of communication through emojis, memes, stickers, gifs, are also a reference in her practice. The title of the show is a symbol in itself - a smiley face - and, in that sense, the fact that the show only exists online is an exciting one.

I organize and curate pop-up art exhibitions, typically showcasing up and coming artists based in New York.

:) Bianca Kann | Gisela Projects

:) Bianca Kann | Gisela Projects