ARCO Madrid 2025

Maria Laet and Claire de Santa Coloma

3+1 Arte Contemporânea proposes a duo project, bringing together Claire de Santa Coloma (1983, Buenos Aires AR/FR) and Maria Laet (1982, Rio de Janeiro BR), two artists with distinct art practices that often find their subject and materials in the natural world, portraying the movements of nature and permeating their work with a strong corporeal distinctiveness.

Maria Laet lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. Her works are informed by actions and the results of subtle gestures and interventions in her multidisciplanerian practice. The mediums that are used act as conduits and platforms for Laet’s processes, which convey her intentions and reveal the act as an archive. There is a fragility evoked in her works which are often captured in a palette of black & white that in turn highlights the seemingly minimalist pieces. Thus, the resulting works command attention to consider the physicality and non-physicality of them.

Claire de Santa Coloma lives and works in Buenos Aires. Her sculptural work is concerned with formal questions that focus on the primordiality of matter (usually wood) and the theme of sculpture itself. The economy of means is one of the governing principals in Santa Coloma’s practice, oftentimes dictating the final shape of the object. The relationship between the viewer and the sculpture is yet another important layer in the reading of her work. Conceptually, it has been the common thread amongst her latest solo shows.