From May 22 to June 16, 2012, Galeria Vermelho is presenting SUNBURST, a solo show by Chiara Banfi [rooms 1 and 2]. Simultaneously, the Tijuana publishing house is releasing the book Aquela Água Toda by João Anzanello Carrascoza, illustrated by Leya Mira Brander.
SUNBURST
Chiara Banfi
Sunburst, Chiara Banfi’s new solo show, reveals the important role played by music in the artist’s creative process. In Viga Mestra, her first solo show at Vermelho, in 2005, Banfi created organic motifs based on images of flowers and plants in a procedure close to performance: while cutting pieces of adhesive vinyl, the artist sang, emitting sounds and rhythms which on that occasion time determined a series of random and impromptu movements that were materialized in amoebalike shapes, creating temporary cutouts and gaps on the walls of the exhibition space.
The same procedure has appeared in later works, in which Banfi incorporates material such as Plexiglas and different sorts of wood from Brazilian tree species. In Pausa [Pause], a solo show presented in 2007 at Vermelho, however, the result of these procedures did not arise from improvised movements with a pair of scissors. From then on, the shapes began to be previously selected and precisely cut out by laser. Even so, the artist’s link with music remained present. In 2008, for example, the artist participated in the group exhibition Blooming: Brazil-Japan, at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, in Japan, with a set of artworks created on wood, along with a sonic performance, for which she remained for three hours in the exhibition space intoning sounds and songs.
The artist was profoundly influenced by Japanese culture. This experience resulted in the solo show held in 2010, entitled KOTO, the name of a musical instrument of great importance in Japanese culture.
Sunburst refers to a technique used in the finishing of musical instruments such as acoustic, electric and bass guitars. In the solo show, Banfi presents a set of twelve large-format paintings on wood, which incorporate this technique. The result reveals fields that radiate from their interiors with bursts of light, which approximate this new phase of Banfi with the abstract pictorial fields created by Mark Rothko and Arcângelo Ianelli. On these shiny surfaces, measuring 1.60 x 1.10 meters each, the observer will see his/her image reflected at the center of the pictorial field, thanks to the painting techniques employed.
Banfi’s experience with the sunburst technique has given rise to yet another development in her new series Desenho Sonoro [Sound Drawing]. Composed of wooden panels that incorporate elements of old electric and bass guitars, Desenho Sonoro reaffirms the importance of the system for spreading and propagating music, in the way Banfi has chosen to materialize her works in space. As in the mural paintings with portraits of landscapes that the artist made at the beginning of her career, here music is represented by isolated parts of instruments such as guitar pickups and tuning pegs. In this way, Banfi materializes the materiality of sound, separating these elements from the sound’s material source (acoustic, electric and bass guitars), creating sound drawings that point to silence.
Chiara Banfi (1979) holds a degree in plastic arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP), in São Paulo. The artist lives and works in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Selected solo shows: O papel do jardim, Galeria Silvia Cintra + Box4, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2011); Place to Be, GaleryRio, Nantes, France (2010); Mirante, Galeria Lunara, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (2007); Sweet Melody, LABF15, Lyon, France (2006); Firehouse, De Vleeshal, Middelburg, Holland (2005). Selected group exhibitions: 32º Panorama da arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM), São Paulo, Brazil (2011); Blooming: Brazil-Japan, Where You Are, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi Province, Japan (2008); Futuro do Presente, Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil (2007).
EXHIBITIONS: SUNBURST
Chiara Banfi [rooms 1 and 2].
TIJUANA BOOK RELEASE: Aquela Água Toda
by João Anzanello Carrascoza
illustrated by Leya Mira Brander.
Back cover: Ronaldo Correia de Brito
Paperback with dust cover
15.5 x 22 cm
Pages: 96
Illustrations: 11
R$ 39.90
ISBN 978-85-405-0171-3
PERIOD: May 23 to June 16, 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
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