Page 97 - ARTE!Brasileiros #47

INSTITUTIONS FAMA | PAGES 34 AND 35 remain as paradigms of the art produced in Brazil, whatever the focus given, such as
APROXIMAÇÕES: BRIEF Almeida Jr., Segall and Guignard paintings present.
***
INTRODUCTION TO THE After the visit, I was thinking: despite all the problems inherent in an undertaking still

BRAZILIAN ART OF in the process of settlement, which gift to Itu is the presence of FAMA! Which gift for
the country, in these dark times, is the presence of Marcos Amaro, acting with all the
THE XX CENTURY enthusiasm of his youth for the sake of art and culture. He and his collection of public
vocation - within a factory that has everything to become a powerhouse of art and
EXHIBITION CURATED BY ARACY AMARAL INAUGURATED IAT THE FÁBRICA knowledge - give rise to the hope that not everything is lost, or being lost, in Brazil.
DE ARTE MARCOS AMARO (FAMA) WHICH, IN THE PROCESS OF SETTLEMENT,
CAUSES FASCINATION AND IS A GIFT FOR ITU INSTITUTIONS SESC GUARULHOS | PAGES 40 TO 42
THE INCLUSIVE POLICY
BY TADEU CHIARELLI
BY SESC-SP ALSO HOLDS
MONTEIRO LOBATO DECLARES HIS LOVE for Rio de Janeiro by stating that the city, during
the creation of the world, was the storehouse of God in an article published in a book TRUE FOR ART
("Luvas!" in Onda Verde, 1920). In the first six days he took all the beauties from his
store and deposited them in the various places: fatigued, on the seventh day he rested, NEW BUILDING, WHICH IN ITS FIRST WEEKEND RECEIVED 24 THOUSAND
leaving the storehouse in the greatest mess with scattered beauties and mixed with VISITORS, PRESENTS SEVERAL WORKS SIGNED BY MORE THAN 15 ARTISTS
all that is the corner of the city.
This was the sensation I had when I visited the rooms with works by the Marcos BY MARIA HIRSZMAN
Amaro Foundation at the Fábrica de Arte Marcos Amaro (FAMA), housed in an old
textile factory built in 1903 in Itu, São Paulo: generous spaces with works - some THE OPENING OF SESC NEW BUILDINGS, such as the newly opened space in Guarulhos, not only
truly exceptional - arranged in a a kind of warehouse requesting a greater order increases the network of people served, offering the local population a wide range of
of visibility for the exhibited works or that explains, for example, the reasons why assistance, sports and cultural services, as it makes possible something unfortunately
a sculpture attributed to Aleijadinho is in the middle of others produced in the last still scarce in the country: existence of a generous and ample space that gives shelter
decades. However, despite this impression of being in an undecided place between to the artistic production, so that it is realized in direct contact with a more diversified
being a storage place or an exhibition space, the sensation was of fascination with public and often distant of the traditional circuit of museums, galleries and fairs.
that concept of art and culture factory still in the process of formulation. Just enter the new building, which on its first weekend received 24 thousand visitors,
How will the factory behave after the adaptations coming soon? How many workshops makes people realize the importance of art in the overall context of the project. They
will it host, how many auditoriums will it have, what will its final appearance look like? punctuate the space, subtly or with an undisguised impact, works made especially
And what about the collection, will that impression of blurring between storage and for the place or selected by hand in the technical reserve of the institution. Signed
exhibition rooms continue? An important clue to the development of the collection by a very varied range of artists, the works are authored and diverse, ranging from
seems to be evident when one visits the exhibition annexed to the rooms of the anonymous craftsmen, such as the authors of ex-votos who compose a panel installed
collection described here. This is the exhibition "Aproximações - A Brief Introduction in the lobby, to important names of the contemporary scene. Altogether more than 15
to Brazilian Art of the Twentieth Century. With curatorship by Aracy Amaral, the authors, some with several creations (like Leonilson and Sidney Amaral), sign the works.
exhibition presents a selection of works from the end of the 19th century until the On the façade of Sesc, still outside, a large sculpture of Sérvulo Esmeraldo welcomes
middle of the last century. Starting with the first version of O descanso da Modelo, visitors. It is a piece of great simplicity that contrasts with its colossal dimensions,
1885, by Almeida Jr., belonging to the Marcos Amaro Foundation. In addition to more than ten meters high: two squares, one white and one blue, which partially
this painting, other exhibits also belong to the same institution: two Eliseu Visconti, touch and activate the space around them, like drawings that are strive to acquire a
three Portinari and one more work by each of the following artists: Pedro Americo, three-dimensional force.
Castagneto, Lasar Segall, Antonio Gomide, Victor Brecheret, Cicero Dias, Ismael Nery, At the entrance, establishing a fine tuning with the aerated architecture by Renato and
Di Cavalcanti, Flávio de Carvalho, Guignard and Arcangelo Ianelli. Lilian Dal Pian, was installed a monumental sculpture in plaster by Carlito Carvalhosa.
In spite of the established vision of what would be the "art in Brazil" of that period, With a shape similar to that of the hill of Sugar Loaf in Rio, and hung in the emptiness
there seems to be no doubt that "Aproximações" (that was extended until September upside down, with the help of an iron structure and thick tie rods that connect it to
1st) behaves as a link between the aforementioned sculpture attributed to Aleijadinho the walls of the building, the piece attracts the perplexed glances, who wonder about
- half lost in the other exhibition - the great segment of contemporary local art - the the permanent and at the same time unstable and precarious character of a heavy
fort of the collection. This linkage that the Amaral show explicitly signals to a becoming and inverted mountain that floats in the air.
of the Collection of the Marcos Amaro Foundation, transforming it into a Brazilian Although probably the most striking of the new building, Carvalhosa's piece, Já estava
art museum, from the passage from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century until assim quando cheguei, is not the only great work especially designed for space. In
the present time. the same hall, occupying a long wall on the second floor of the building, is the panel
Even though this narrative about what may have been art in Brazil in recent centuries created by Adriana Varejão. Composed of seven large circles with geometric and
has been reviewed in recent years, there seems to be no doubt about how important organic shapes, mural painting is part of a project already developed by the artist,
a collection of this size in a city like Itu will be, so that new research can be developed which investigates the wide range of skin colors of Brazilians, the problematic issue
in the sense of - who knows - to reconsider this vision about the Brazilian artistic of self-identification in a society marked by a strong , even if disguised, racism.
phenomenon that has become hegemonic. After all, good works are not lacking in It is interesting to note that the choices of permanent works for the new space are
the collection. If in its contemporary segment - under the responsibility of Ricardo not intended to reinvent poetics. On the contrary, the proposal enhances the reach
Resende - stand out works of Tunga, Fábio Miguez and Beto Shwafaty, among others, of works of art - in large part by the prominence and generosity of space granted
the modern segment is not behind. After all, there are some works that will certainly to them - without sacrificing their connection with the particular poetics of each of

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