Sea View is pleased to present “Jogo de Mesa” or “Table Game,” the US debut solo exhibition by São Paulo based artist Beatrice Arraes (b. 1998, Fortaleza, Brazil). In her intimately scaled work, magical realism serves as a conduit for exploring personal and cultural histories of Northeastern Brazil, expressed through metaphysical renditions of landscapes and childhood games.

Influenced by artists from her hometown such as Gustavo Diógenes and Paula Siebra, as well as painters such as Eleonore Koch and Milton Avery, Arraes seeks the inherent mysteries and vital forces that suffuse the quotidian. Alluding to the themes in “Kukukaya,” a Brazilian folk song about four card players around a table, her newest body of work depicts ordinary and natural subject matter such as parlor games, fertile eggs, and tumultuous weather. As the Law of Conservation of Mass states, matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transformed– Arraes’ assortments of matter, including volcanic eruptions, astronomical events, and torrential rain storms seem to appear suspended in motion, reinforcing the sublime physicalities of the elements in continuous transition and the profound effect of play.

Often etching or carving repeated marks into her panels or applying a rich impasto over her canvases, Arraes emphasizes the physical weight of her objects and landscapes as well as their personal and psychological ties. Arraes contemplates, “I think I have a very spiritual and curious relationship with nature. This is largely due to a certain affection I have for my homeland itself, a desire to belong to something. I think nature in the form of these sublime events also constitutes an internal landscape, a certain state of being.”

Natural cycles and rhythms carry a poetic analogy for creation and rebirth that nourishes her work. In the artist’s words, “a world goes away so that another can be born.” 

Beatrice Arraes (b. 1998, Fortaleza, BR) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Arraes studied  Fine Art and Graphic Design at the University of Salamanca in Spain and the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil, where she received her Bachelor degree. Arraes has had solo exhibitions at Leonardo Leal Gallery (2023, Fortaleza, BR) and a solo presentation with Galatea at ArPa (2023, São Paulo, BR). She has participated in group exhibitions at Casa Híbrida (2024, São Paulo, BR), Milan Gallery (2024, São Paulo, BR), Pedro Cera (2024, Lison, PT), Brainlab Culture Program (2023, Munich, DE), Lima Galeria (2023, São Luís, BR), and Espaço Cultura Unifor (2023, Fortaleza BR). Her work is part of the public collection of Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (Rio Janeiro, Brazil).

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