Exhibition "The Wrong Word", by Rebecca Watson Horn

Forts D'Aloia & Gabriel is pleased to present The wrong word, first exhibition of Rebecca Watson Horn In the gallery. Produced entirely in São Paulo, the works presented are the result of the artist's stay in the city, during which she absorbed rhythms, atmospheres, and impressions that permeate the entire exhibition. The exhibition brings together the largest paintings Watson Horn has created to date, as well as a series of vertical textile works.

Rebecca Watson Horn's paintings are constructed from layers of oil paint applied to burlap mounted on canvas, a combination of materials that produces dense surfaces marked by accidents, textures, and a strong tactile dimension. In a palette that ranges from deep reds, earthy greens, luminous yellows, greenish grays, and pinkish tones, elongated forms and chromatic fields expand, following the weave of the fabric, incorporating its structure into the composition itself.

Each image emerges from the gradual transformation of words, phrases, or fragments of language, which cease to function as legible signs and become abstract graphic representations. The artist frequently associates this process with sigils—symbols used in enchantment practices, conceived as visual condensations of thoughts, intentions, or desires. Throughout the painting, the original verbal content is progressively distorted until it becomes unrecognizable, giving way to enigmatic and open visual configurations.

By manipulating traces of language, Watson Horn creates situations in which meaning continually accumulates and dissolves. The gaze is invited to wander across the surface or to linger on certain sections, as if following oscillations between thought and sensation, between the fluidity of imagination and the materiality of painting. His compositions function as visual records of perceptual states, articulating rhythms, memories, and associations that resist immediate interpretation.

Born in Boston and based in New York, Rebecca Watson Horn (1981) develops a practice centered on painting and textiles, investigating the relationships between language, abstraction, and materiality. Using oil on burlap and canvas, she constructs thick, textured surfaces in which words and phrases are gradually converted into gestures, marks, and pictorial forms. Her works are characterized by overlapping chromatic fields, amorphous forms, and a constant attention to the physical qualities of fabric and paint, producing compositions that oscillate between writing and painting, structure and atmosphere. Through repetition, distortion, and accumulation, the artist treats language less as an instrument of communication than as a field of rhythm, memory, and sensation.

Among her recent solo exhibitions are Sono, at Villa di Geggiano, Siena, Italy (2025); The Secret Life of Vowels, at Emanuela Campoli, Paris (2024); Sigils, at Auroras, São Paulo (2023); Letters as such, at Deli Gallery, New York (2023); Rebecca Watson Horn, at White Columns, New York (2017); and Rub It In, at Soloway, Brooklyn (2011). Her work has also been part of group exhibitions such as A Study in Form (Chapter Two), curated by Arden Wohl, at James Fuentes, New York (2023); Always in my room bc I put effort into it & I love the vibe of my lights, at Starr Suites, Brooklyn (2023); The Practice of Everyday Life, at Derosia, New York (2022); JAG Projects at Forland, curated by Jesse Aran Greenberg, in Catskill, New York (2022); and Pure Joy, curated by Chella Man, at the 1969 Gallery, New York (2022).

Service
Exhibition | The wrong word
From June 10th to August 01st
Tuesday to Friday, 10pm to 19pm; Saturday, 10am to 18pm