Johanna Calle: Arquitecturas

Bienvenu Steinberg & C is pleased to present Arquitecturas, an exhibition by Colombian artist Johanna Calle and her second solo show in New York. Curated by Alexis Fabry, the exhibition centers on two recent bodies of work, Arquitecturas and Abstractas, in which the artist intervenes small format chromogenic prints drawn from anonymous photographic archives, by applying nail polish or by removing parts of the surface emulsion, furthering her ongoing conceptual exploration of drawing, photography, and archival material. Arquitecturas reflects a shift in Calle's practice toward additive intervention. Through the precise chromatic application of nail polish layers, she reconfigures the visual structures embedded in these images, isolating architectural elements and spatial rhythms. Calle has described her works as "photographic drawings" concerned with defining characteristic color ensembles, particularly those associated with vernacular architecture. Rather than reconstructing or embellishing the image, the interventions frame color as a historically situated system—shaped by specific social, architectural, and material contexts, and increasingly subject to erosion and loss. The use of nail polish is essential to the process. The brilliance of the colors used, and the surface effects of the lacquer evoke the visual codes of advertising and popular culture associated with gendered routines of self-presentation. In Abstractas, Calle reaffirms her longstanding engagement with absence, erasure, and archival instability. Most of the recognizable elements in the image are erased.