Quase Nada; Esqueleto Aereo and Novas Pinturas at Galeria Vermelho

Facebooktwitter

Galeria Vermelho presents, from April 17 to May 12, 2012, Quase Nada (Almost Nothing) by Marcelo Cidade (halls 1 and 2), Esqueleto Aéreo (Aerial Skeleton) by Lia Chaia (Collection), and Novas Pinturas (New Paintings) by Marilá Dardot (hall 3).

Quase Nada
Marcelo Cidade
Questioning the modernist ideals while borrowing instruments from the movement’s essential toolbox has been one of the key procedures used by Marcelo Cidade over the course of his career.

In the solo show Quase Nada, Cidade appropriates historical elements as a strategy for subverting and criticizing the prevailing political system. But his work does not discuss the ideological content of facts that marked the history of Brazil and the world, like the JK [Juscelino Kubitschek] era, or the legacy left by communism in countries like former Yugoslavia. In this solo show, Cidade seeks nonideological ways to discuss politics.

In the installation …e agora, José? […And now, José?] (2012), which occupies the gallery’s hall 1, Cidade appropriates an image from a huge billboard used in Marshal Henrique Teixeira Lott’s campaign for the Brazilian presidency, in 1960. The panel presents the candidate wearing his military uniform beside Juscelino Kubitschek dressed as Borba Gato [a historical explorer of the Brazilian colonial frontier] and referred to as the “grande bandeirante do século” [great pioneer of the century].
Despite his association with the pioneering image of JK, who had built Brazil’s new federal capital, Lott lost the election to Jânio Quadros.

Cidade appropriates an image from Lott’s campaign as an instrument for criticizing the ideals of modernism and progress implanted in Brazil at that time. Brasília, a city created on paper before being inhabited, reflects the problems of the real Brazil.
Similar content appears in Obra Obsoleta [Obsolete Artwork] (2011). In order to create it, Cidade appropriated images of monuments from former Yugoslavia, photographed by Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers. After gluing them to sheets of plywood, Cidade takes out the monument, leaving only the landscape in the background. What one sees are desolate and distant landscapes. Nowadays these sculptures, symbolizing the thinking of an era, are transformed into mere obsolete and anachronistic forms that point to the void left by the ideologies that marked the 20th century.

Adição por subtração [Addition by Subtraction] (2012) reaffirms the void in the field of architecture and art, questioning the perspective. What one sees are frames made of glass shards, but empty where the artwork would be.
The solo show is capped off by the video Quase Nada [Almost Nothing] and the silkscreen Paranga.

Marcelo Cidade (1979) holds a degree in plastic arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP), in São Paulo, the city where he lives and works. Selected solo shows: Vamos falar senhor fantasma, at Fundação Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2009); Acidentes não acontecem, at Fundação Ascensão, Vale do Anhangabaú, São Paulo, Brazil (2007); Outro Lugar, at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil (2006). Selected group exhibitions: 27th Bienal de São Paulo / Como viver Junto (2006); AFTER UTOPIA, at Museo Centro Pecci, Prato, Italy (2009); Para ser Construídos, at MUSAC, Castile and León, Spain (2010). Farsite, Insite, Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, USA (2005);
Esqueleto Aéreo

Lia Chaia
An installation created by Lia Chaia for exhibition on the ceiling of intermediary spaces or walkways, Esqueleto Aéreo (2012) aims to evidence the experience of the gaze, creating a dialogue between the public space of the streets and the internal, familiar and protected space of the museum.

Composed of more than 180 small rectangular hanging flags, cut in patterns of different parts of the human skeleton, such as the cranium, the pelvis and the shoulder blade, Esqueleto Aéreo deals with the idea of the fragmented body that inhabits the architecture, and which has been an object of Lia Chaia’s recent research. In this work, the rigidity of the architecture and the bones of the human body appear in confrontation with the lightness and fragility of the cut fabrics.
The work can also be seen at the exhibition Daquilo que me habita, now running at the CCBB of Brasília, until May 13.

Lia Chaia (1978), holds a degree in plastic arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP), in São Paulo, where she lives and works. Selected solo shows: Anônimo, at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil (2010); Entre Vias, at Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea dell’Università di Roma, Rome, Italy (2006); Experiências com o Corpo, at Instituto Tomie Othake, São Paulo, Brazil (2002). Selected group exhibitions: 5th Bienal Internacional de Liége, at Centro Cultural Lês Chiroux, Liége, Belgium; Urban Scapes – Contemporary Brazilian Art, at DNA Gallerie, Berlin, Germany (2006); 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2007); Ordem e Progresso, at Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo [MAM-SP], São Paulo, Brazil (2010).

Novas Pinturas
Marilá Dardot
Words, phrases and typographies of old advertisements are recovered by Marilá Dardot to compose a series of new artworks that the artist has entitled Novas Pinturas [2011–2012]. The artist removes these words from their original contexts and applies them on large panes of glass. Like showcases that announce the latest seasonal fad, they weave a commentary on the demands of the art system and consumer society. The series includes words and phrases such as És Único [It’s Unique], Novo [New], Inédito [For the First Time Ever], “The first and only,” and others.

Marilá Dardot (1973) holds a degree in social communication from UFMG (Belo Horizonte). The artist lives and works in São Paulo. Selected solo shows: Introdução ao Terceiro Mundo, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2011); Alices, at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil, (2010); MUCA Roma, at Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte, Mexico DF, Mexico (2008). Selected group shows: Chambres sourdes, at Parc culturel de Rentilly, Rentilly, France [2011]; 29th Bienal de São Paulo / Há sempre um copo de mar para um homem navegar, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2010); Contraditório – Panorama da Arte Brasileira 2007, at Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid, Spain (2008); 27th Bienal de São Paulo / Como viver juntos, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, (2006).

EXHIBITIONS: Quase Nada, by Marcelo Cidade [rooms 1 and 2], Esqueleto Aéreo [Collection], by Lia Chaia, and Novas Pintura, by Marilá Dardot [Room 3].
OPENS: April 17, at 8 p.m. PERIOD: April 18 through May 12, 2012 PLACE: Galeria Vermelho ADDRESS: Rua Minas Gerais, 350 / 01244010 – São Paulo, SP, Brazil – tel.: (+55 11) 3138 1520
www.galeriavermelho.com.br / info@galeriavermelho.com.br

Facebooktwitter

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

21