Angela de la Cruz: Bare

“I have been thinking about this concept of ‘Bare’ for some time – considering what is open to view, what is exposed, what the future holds…. I feel like we are walking into an unknown. The works in this show are all united through their bareness: be it perceptible openness or exposure – they all appear precarious, vulnerable and unprotected.”
– Angela de la Cruz, 2018

A new body of work makes up Angela de la Cruz’s exhibition at Lisson Gallery, her first solo presentation with the gallery in London since 2011. Titled ‘Bare’, the exhibition explores the vulnerability we are subjected to in the contemporary world – at a universal and individual level – and tries to offer a solution to the underlying uncertainty that represents our era.

This new body of work embodies de la Cruz’s oeuvre, overflowing with emotion, tension and humour. Asking “when is a painting not a painting?”, the artist’s work takes on a third dimension, free from the boundaries of the canvas and liberated from the formal constraints of painting. While embracing a minimalist approach that employs the use of monochromatic colour and repetition, the titles of the work – Bare, Crates, Shutters… – reflect the visceral and figurative nature of her paintings.