Page 98 - ARTE!Brasileiros #47

THE POWER OF ART ENGLISH VERSION
the authors. The grandeur and specificities of a cultural center of wide circulation and photography are also part of this process, with dense works such as the overlapping
do not lead to a dropping of the researches of the invited artists. On the contrary, scenes of the rough city with its greyish and massive buildings, made by Fernando Vilela.
it opens up to them a possibility of making feasible something that, in practice, is Or the army created by Luisa Almeida of women combatants, armed, who organize
almost impossible in our dense and fragmented urban centers. This is the case, for themselves in the form of totems, ready for the fight. The imagery references found in
example, of the giant painting Paisagem Desaguando, created by Janaina Tschäpe the works are the most varied. There is an evident dialogue with the artistic tradition
for the gymnasium and establishing an interesting visual parallel with the contiguous and the classic references like Expressionism. The option to display the engraved
nucleus of the pools. Or the work of Eduardo Frota, composed of two enormous pieces without framing reinforces this popular, marginal (in the sense of marginalized),
that belong to his already known series of reels, located in the garden. The difference fluid, and extremely communicative character of woodcut. And it refers to its use as
is that in this case it was decided to change the already traditional wood profiles by a revolutionary weapon of communication through lick-licks.
the steel, more resistant material for a long-term exposure. Virtuosísticas (such as Francisco Maringelli and Ernesto Bonato), experimental (Otavio
It is curious to note how the artist achieves, despite the massive character of iron, Zani) or collective works (Xiloceasa), the dozens of works assembled until September
a paradoxical aspect of lightness. In addition to the precision with which it is built, at Sesc Guarulhos attest to the vigor of contemporary production and the infinite
with a perfect fit of hundreds of overlapping steel slides, the sculpture is hollow possibilities of simple technique, which explains Mubarac, requires "only a piece of
inside, making it possible to see the sky through it and giving some transparency to wood and something cutting", but that is in permanent reinvention.
the brutality of the metal.
INSTITUTIONS CASA DO POVO | PAGES 46 TO 51
INSTITUTIONS SESC GUARULHOS | PAGES 43 AND 45 A PLACE WHERE TO
XILO: BODY AND LANDSCAPE REMEMBER IS TO ACT

THE INAUGURAL EXHIBITION OF THE NEW SESC BUILDING CAPTIVATES THE FOUNDED IN THE 1940S BY PROGRESSIVE JEWS, CASA DO POVO OVERCOMES
LIVELY WOODCUT PRODUCTION IN SÃO PAULO IN THE LAST THREE DECADES 30 YEARS OF CRISIS AND CONSOLIDATES ITSELF AS A PROLIFIC CULTURAL
CENTER, EXPERIMENTAL SPACE OF COEXISTENCE AND PERFORMANCE OF
BY MARIA HIRSZMAN MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTISTIC COLLECTIVES AND AUTONOMOUS MOVEMENTS

WITH WORKS BY 33 ARTISTS from different generations, the exhibition reveals how the BY MARCOS GRINSPUM FERRAZ
art of recording on wood is part of an already consolidated tradition to reinvent itself,
by talking with other forms of artistic expression and proposing a very attentive look UNTIL SIX OR SEVEN YEARS AGO, very few people in Sao Paulo - including those working
at reality and production contemporary art. with culture - could tell what Casa do Povo was. Cultural center founded in 1946 by
The choice of Claudio Mubarac as curator gives the group an unusual density in progressive Jews in the district of Bom Retiro, the space was bitter about 30 years
collective exhibitions, especially when marked by a great diversity like this. Artist of crisis, with the closure of almost all its activities, and was more present in the
and teacher, he closely follows this production, functioning as a kind of link between memory of some generations than in the daily life of residents of the city. The fact
the generation that began to implement the teaching of woodcut in the art schools is that in a very short time the house experienced an intense and vigorous recovery,
of the country in the 1950s and 1960s and the engravers who, from the years 1990, consolidating itself as a prolific cultural center and one of the most open spaces for
continued this work with a strong community character, creating collective workshops experimentation, political debate and multidisciplinary artistic practices in the town.
and exchanging technical, formal and conceptual data on their productions. Aimed at both contemporary production and the preservation of memory, Casa do
Artists who managed, through exchange and dialogue, to overcome the barriers Povo was inspired in its own history to gain fresh breath and life.
in the national market to art on paper and, in particular, woodcutting, a technique Nowadays, going to this space means to be faced with activities of the most varied and,
marked by a strong popular bias. at first glance, disparate. Depending on the season, one can witness a contemporary
The reference to nature and the human figure - quite present in the works -, rather dance workshop to a journalism class for young people from the periphery; of a
than a reference to the academic genres of portraits and landscapes, seeks to theatrical play made by secondary students to a Latin American publications fair;
emphasize the active and intense relationship established by these new generations from an artistic performance to boxing offered to the neighborhood community;
with the contemporary scene, defining their own identity for this urban wandering. from discussions on health and female self-knowledge to production of workshops
"These people grew up in a very different political climate, formed in a democratic for graphic materials; from weaving workshops to free psychoanalytic services; from
environment. Walking around the city is a way of giving corporeity to themselves. discussions on the integration of immigrants in the neighborhood to the rehearsal
Do not separate more urban and rural, nature and culture", summarizes Mubarac. of a traditional choir sung in Yiddish; from a meeting about conscious eating to
It is interesting to note how, from this common temporal floor, there is a great the distribution of meals. You can also consult a library and a vast documentary
spreading of poetics, diverse ways of exploring the relationship with wood (often archive, purchase a copy of the newspaper Nossa Voz, edited by the institution,
using the veins as a compositional element) and the creation of rich dialogues with or leave from there with an audioguide to walk through the neighborhood of Bom
other techniques. The presence of color is striking, as well as the use of large formats. Retiro and know its history.
This is the case, for example, of the work of Fabricio Lopez, the first to idealize this If the practices are so many and diverse - and the list above could go on - they do not
panoramic exhibition and who invited Mubarac to take over the curatorship. Lopez happen by chance, nor are they inconsistent with the proposal of a contemporary
displays a wide panel, a landscape that seems invented, with marine and mountainous space of culture and art, as explained by the curator and cultural manager Benjamin
references, in a seductive game of colors and shapes. The color is also the protagonist Seroussi, director of the institution and one of those responsible for the resumption.
of the playful mural A Banda Amarela chega na Etiópia Sagrada, by Eduardo Ver and "On the one hand, artists ask to broaden the notion of art, they do not want to limit
scores the whole exhibition. themselves to traditional practices. They do not understand art as separate from
It is Ana Calzavara who seems to approach the woodcut of the painting more intensely, other spheres of production and other life activities. On the other hand, culture is
as if it were merging the two languages, abolishing their differences in a series of not limited to the arts. Casa do Povo is culture, culture is culture, sport is culture",
yellowish landscapes that succeed and complement each other as comics. Sculpture he says. "So here is creation, activism, people in situations of social vulnerability.

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