LONDON.- Elizabeth Xi Bauer presents Phantom Dance, an exhibition of new works by Theodore Ereira-Guyer and Thiago Barbalho. Though the artists are friends and nourish an intellectual exchange for many years, it is the first time that their works will be exhibited together.

For this exhibition at Elizabeth Xi Bauer, the two artists’ works dialogue through varying mediums. Multiple double-sided stacks of large format etchings by Ereira-Guyer will be installed so that they hang from the gallery ceiling to form a false wall which will intersect the space. Created using different hues and densities of green, these etchings have been sewn onto silk and stitched together to create objects with architectural qualities. Exhibited with this will be two sizeable drawings by Barbalho along with a selection of smaller drawings by the artist which will be hung on the walls around the larger works. In addition, Ereira-Guyer has created new sculptures which will be shown as part of this exhibition. These comprise of portraits made of bronze as well as animal figures conceived by etching into plaster.

Theodore Ereira-Guyer's work is an ongoing investigation into the subject of memory – what is kept and what is left behind. In a metalinguistic operation, his process of printmaking emulates the mechanism of memory, as it necessarily involves a loss of information between the plate and the paper. Even if it is a technique aimed at reproducibility, Ereira-Guyer uses single or a few compositions being generated per plate – every time a print is made, different aspects are emphasised whereas others are lost.

Thiago Barbalho uses art as a visual language as a medium to explore his creative output. His works are the results of facing the limits of rationality, keeping the same hand gesture of writing to explode its own borders. Having published short stories, novels and poetry, the artist began to develop a pictorial language. Barbalho's work is rich in shapes and materials, choosing to work in such mediums as graphite, coloured pencils, ballpoint pen, permanent marker and acrylic, oil and pastel paints.

Barbalho's intricate compositions are unplanned: combining visual references from history, pop culture and his philosophy studies to create works which marry together fragmented narratives. Seen by the viewer from afar, these works vibrate with colour. Upon closer inspection, the juxtaposition of images weaves together a picture-scape with an abundance of possible interpretations.

Phantom Dance, the title of this exhibition, derives from both artists, as they explain, displaying their works together evokes the spirit of dancing. Paradoxes are the focus of this exhibition, absences and presences within the works as well as between the works. Negative spaces are the phantoms in this exhibition, that dance between each other.

‘’When considering the title for this exhibition, we thought about the moment our practices were brought together and we began to riff on ideas of presence and absence in both of our works,’’ Theodore Ereira-Guyer explains. ‘’In something's absence there was also its presence, some kind of phantom, if you like. Where Thiago’s artwork is, mine is not. Although this is never quite true, the exhibition explores this sense of space being malleable, as opposed to definitive, as our practices dance together. I’m excited by how this notion of the phantom may breakdown the definitive aspects we place on things.’’

‘’The title expresses a hook that we could both work towards and tie ourselves to when developing this exhibition together, whilst still granting us autonomy and a myriad of possibilities to think about our practices. The process of making and drawing being like a dance in which the artist-maker has a phantom-like presence in the artwork. These phantom presences build upon each other: the dance of our two practices; of the viewer and the work, and so on and on.’’ Theodore Ereira-Guyer.

‘’I consider etching and drawing as affirmative gestures which mark a conscious presence. We are always exploring the result of each of these instances and marks. These marks represent reality and a consequent solution of what to do next with that present mark, how to find the best way to let it be in a composition,’’ Thiago Barbalho explains.

‘’That is the dance: an absence within the work. There is a sense of horror within this, a consciousness that absence and presence are two faces of the same ghost. Simultaneously, juxtaposing this, I think the presence of colour is