The new signs

Born in Rio in 1982, Christian Rosa studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 2007 in the class of Daniel Richter. He earned a degree in 2012. His latest works on canvas are minimal positings on a generally unprimed, rough, beige base: ­colourful loops, craquelures, erasures, carelessly painted bubbles and squares. His extremely reduced repertoire is reminiscent of Cy Twombly, one of the most enduring American abstract painters outside the United States. Rosa also calls on the »Empire of Signs«, initially determined by Roland Barthes for Twombly. Besides Oscar Murillo and David Ostrowsky, Christian Rosa is currently considered as one of the most compelling young positions in contemporary art. For the cosmopolitan young Brazilian, Vienna was therefore not a bad stage, it served as a stepping-stone, from the art-loving Habsburg’s and the recommendation by Francesco Bonami, right into the collection of the Rebaudengo’s. The catalogue, currently realized together with CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, is the first ever monographic publication on the work of this rising star.

Exhibition:
CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, 2/5–7/6/2014