Alvaro Barrington’s A Taste of Chocolate is curated by Norman Rosenthal and exhibited concurrently with Utopia at the Stag Monuments, the most significant exhibition of Joseph Beuys in the UK in over a decade. Barrington’s own studio installation in the Ropac gallery plays on a ‘Beuysian energy’ perceived by the curator in the work of this contemporary Venezuelan-born, New-York based artist, and recalls the 1982 installation of Beuys’ studio at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, curated by Rosenthal almost 40 years ago.
With the title of the exhibition, the artist plays on the idea of chocolate, a product of Grenada, being a metaphor for dark brown skin and on its associated sexual connotations. A Taste of Chocolate also refers to Big Daddy Kane’s 3rd album, a rapper who, in Barrington’s view, is one of the most important Hip Hop artist of his generation and a pioneer of the genre. The album was coincidentally released around the time Barrington immigrated to America from Grenada.
A Taste of Chocolate intends to reproduce the same energy as that found in the artist’s studio and so to capture Barrington’s unique approach. Barrington explains: ‘seen in a new space this new installation allows different relationships to emerge’. The first iteration took place at MoMA PS1 in late 2017. Barrington is primarily inspired by spaces and prefers to avoid representation in favour of creating exhibitions for specific gallery spaces. In this vein, further to Barrington’s current exhibition at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s London gallery, he will be showing in Ropac’s Paris, Marais space in two years’ time.
This new iteration, site-specific to the London Gallery’s Ely room, enables viewers to visit an active space in which Barrington’s generative process is clearly visible.
| Duration | 18 April 2018 - 16 June 2018 |
| Times | Tuesday – Saturday 10 am – 6 pm |
| Cost | Free |
| Venue | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac |
| Address | Ely House, 37 Dover Street, London, W1S 4NJ |
| Contact | 4402038138400 / polly.gaer@ropac.net / www.ropac.net |