Lucas Odahara - Read Before the Fire.
Exhibition at Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Neuenhaus, 2020, curated by Elmas Senol





works: 

Cover (Something Newly Missing), 2020
Sound, record, score
43 x 34,5 cm


Trocadouro (They saw it last), 2018/2020
15 wood frames, bookbinding mull, acrylic paint, wheels
210 x 90 x 4 cm each


Limits of Law, 2020
Glazed ceramics
ca. 21 x 29,7 cm each


Lingual (assembling), 2018/2020
Acrylic paint, leather, rice
Variable dimensions



Press release:

The Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim is pleased to host Read Before the Fire, the first institutional exhibition of the artist Lucas Odahara. The work of Lucas Odahara unfolds at the interface of visual art and writing practice. Language as an ever present body that determines our lives is at the heart of his artistic examination. The artist questions conventional narrative patterns in texts, spoken language, and images that have persisted throughout history and continue to shape our perception of the existing world order and its respective power relations to this day. 

For the rooms of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Lucas Odahara has developed a multimedia installation that deals with language in times of loss: Loss of memories, of social and political rights or laws. This loss is not understood as an act of mourning, but as a possibility to find a heightened alertness in the face of 'something newly missing'. Most of the works conceived for the exhibition deal with recent developments in Brazilian politics. Against the background of the revoking of various laws and a worldwide media testimony about the disappearance of large parts of the Amazon rainforest, Lucas Odahara in Read Before the Fire deals with various concepts of loss and implements them in a diverse media presentation. In addition to text-based works, images and objects, a sound installation created with Lucas' father echoes in the rooms of the Kunstverein.



Images: Exhibition view at Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Neuenhaus, Germany, 2020. Photos: Volker Crone