Page 116 - ARTE!Brasileiros #49

IT’S ENOUGH ENGLISH VERSION
develop between Leonilson (1957-1993) and Dias in Milan shortly thereafter. These assumed his homosexuality in his native Angola.
bonds were so strong that, decades later, the valuable artist would buy works by his This kind of multiplied mirror, where the real story of the character in the film is
friend, who was prematurely deceased as a result of AIDS, making possible today the reflected in the very story of the actor who plays him, is key to understanding the We,
exhibition Leonilson by Antonio Dias - Profile of a collection, which from November the Enemy, show that occupies the entire gallery, and looks more like an institutional
11 and December 14 is on display at Pinakotheke São Paulo (Ministro Nelson Hungria show that in a commercial space.
Street, 200), after passing by the Rio de Janeiro headquarters. In it, Motta creates a clear narrative where the works are pieces that, on the one
If it all started with the shock of high values, as Zerbini tells in the exhibition catalog, hand, address the emergence of prejudice against homosexuality, at the same time
it was in the fall of 1981 that Leonilson would indeed meet Antonio Dias at his home create elements that, far from relying on a discourse of victimization, goes in reverse
in Milan, on the recommendation of another Brazilian, Arthur Luiz Piza (1928 - 2017), to generate affirmation of queer culture.
who lived in Paris. Already on the facade of Vermelho this is seen by the appropriation of the pink triangle,
In another statement in the show’s catalog, now by Paola Chieregato, she tells how which in Nazism represented gay men condemned to death, becoming the work Ways
Dias influenced the then young artist who had just arrived at his home in Milan, of Freedom: Triangle, a mural with its own large image and a poster with a historical
who was ready to return to Jericoacoara. of the arms. “It was there, in that house line, which narrates, since 1500, facts related to both prejudice and its opposite, as the
in Milan in front of the castle, that Leonilson was propelled by his mentor to finally determination, now in 2019 by the STF that transphobia and homophobia are crimes.
take the reins of his profession as an artist in his own hands and thus, with courage It is in propositions like this that artistic practices cease to be illustration on a theme,
and determination, was performing on the Italian scene”, says Paola, widow of Dias. to become catalysts of experiences, generating new forms of representativeness,
It was in this context that he nominated the gallery of Enzo Cannaviello to Leonilson, who questioning established patterns.
bought his works and inserted it in some shows, besides the father of Transvanguarda, The whips displayed on the second floor of the gallery follow this same key, because if in
Achille Bonito Oliva. The friendship strengthened and even Antonio Dias living in the movie Corpo Fechado: The Devil’s work the whips are used as a form of martyrdom,
Europe both met regularly. A letter of May 3, 1993, sent shortly before Leonilson’s in the series called Closed Body, they approach the fetish objects of gay culture. This
death, shows Dias’s appreciation for his friend, speaking of two works by Leonilson hardcore scene, by the way, portrayed by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946 - 1989) in iconic
that he had brought to his permanent residence in Cologne, Germany: “Now, I think images, as he inserts the whip into his anus, is appropriated by Motta, who re-enacts
on you every day. (...) I would love to see you again and say that I really like to have the 1978 photograph, darkening it, in a kind of context. of the show’s questions.
you as a friend”. It is in the video We the enemy (2017), which gives title to the show, where the artist
There was no time, but after Leonilson’s death, Dias began to pursue his work, positions the central issue of the show. Created by the SPIT group! (Sodomite, Inverts,
especially those sold in Milan, with the help of Paola, the “gold digger,” as he called Perverts Together), composed by Motta, writer John Arthur Peetz and choreographer
her. The exhibition at Pinakotheke brings together 38 drawings and paintings from Carlos Maria Romero, the video is a compilation of dozens of derogatory and insulting
Antonio Dias’ collection, an exhibition that was planned in 2015, when Antonio Dias terms, spoken by Greek artist Despina Zacharopoulos, as “perverts, bambi , dolls,
was preparing his solo show at Galeria Multiarte, in Fortaleza. Four works belonging pederasts, queues” with an emphatic conclusion: “we are and always will be the
to other private collections complement the exhibition. enemies ”.
It is, therefore, a somewhat unknown facet of Leonilson, taking into account the
recent shows dedicated to him in Brazil, a clipping of his early career, with most of EXHIBITIONS SÃO PAULO | PAGE 64 TO 66
the works coming from 1981 and 1982. There is only an embroidery from the 1990s,
for example, a technique that gives it greater projection and recognition, especially ALWAYS GAY, THE
for the autobiographical character it gives to its later years.
which even resemble certain works by Antonio Dias himself. On the other hand, the TRANSGRESSOR VOICE
The works in the show are more experimental, such as a colored paper polyptych,
sculpture Ponte, from 1982, already has an image that will recur in his career. OF YOUNG ARTISTS
The works on display actually have a joy, which contrasts with the melancholy of
the end of his career, partly as seen by the tone of the tapes left by the artist. In this
recorded diary, which generated two films, Leonilson projects an image contested by FREE FROM TECHNICAL TIES THEY ARE COMMITES TO THE LIBERTARIAN
Zerbini in the catalog, which led him to plan the destruction of the tapes, together with EXPERIMENTATION OF A FORBIDDEN UNIVERSE
Antonio Dias: “We thought, and I think, that they propagate an image that does not
correspond to reality. Leonilson was one of the funniest, smartest, and fastest thinking BY LEONOR AMARANTE
people I have ever met. Owner of a rasping, cruel humor”. And Zerbini concludes
that “the suffering caused by the disease should not contaminate his work, but, for SEMPRE GAY: MENINAS DE AZUL E MENINOS DE ROSA (Always Gay: girls in blue and boys in pink)
that, we should not reflect, overvalue the moment when he appears most fragile”. addresses, conceptually and artistically, the resistance of young artists in situations
of hatred, discrimination and erasures. Organized by Transarte, a gallery focused on
EXHIBITIONS SÃO PAULO | PAGE 60 TO 62 LGBTq-themed projects and transgressive art, the exhibition brings together Liz Under,
Bia Leite, Eduardo Mafea, Pedro Stephan, with works of pure militancy.
CARLOS MOTTA POINTS TO Contemporary art has developed a strategy of approximation with everyday life.
The narrative of all of them does not separate the art of life, and the countersign to
ROOTS OF PREJUDICE AND survival is to remain in a state of permanent alert in the face of a violent society for
gays, women, blacks, indigenous and poor people. The works are born spontaneously,
RACISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY without worrying about the invoice and most of them mirror experienced situations.
Liz Under, 24, opens the exhibition with photos of a performance with red sheets
with vaginal crevices, held in her studio in Salvador, where she lived and worked.
NEW YORK-BASED COLOMBIAN ARTIST PRESENTS TRACES OF INQUISITION AND The essay starring her places the viewer as a voyeur of a sensual immersion. Liz
SLAVERY AS KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT MOMENT lives in Araraquara and, in the three years she spent in Salvador he studied and
began in art doing graffiti through the streets and street posters . It was there
BY FABIO CYPRIANO that she experienced on her skin the challenge of making a transgressive art.
“Even within the Museum of Modern Art, where I took lithography classes, I did
“BLACK, SLAVE, AFRICAN, SODOMITE, SORCERER, EXILE”, says Paulo Pascoal, the actor who not escape an oppressive society.” Her aversion to the macho world inspired a
plays José Francisco Pereira, kidnapped from the Republic of Benin to Pernambuco drawing with the image of a cat with a penis crossed in his mouth, which angered
in the 18th century, and sold as a slave. There, he used syncretism as a means of her classmates. “They started treating me badly, calling the cat Miserable. The
survival. In 1731 Pereira was tried by the Lisbon Inquisition for sorcery and sodomy. pressure was such that I came to dress as a man to be able to impose myself in
The speech in the scene of Carlos Motta’s Corpo Fechado: The Devil’s work in Vermelho that sexist and discriminatory environment.” Liz also suffered from the engravings
Gallery summarizes the issues surrounding Brazil today, roots of fascist racism that of her bricked muses. In art history men paint naked women for male delight and
polarize the country. Motta, however, goes deeper into the film, associating slavery I put my muses on paper in the search for the construction of their own pleasure,
with inquisition clearly through Letter 31 - The Book of Gomorrah, written in 1049 their own affection. When Liz exhibited these works at the 5th Bienal de Gravura
by St. Peter Damian, considered the first text of the Catholic Church to condemn Lívio Abramo in Araraquara, she was morally assaulted by a local journalist, known
homoerotic practices. by his surname, Madalena. “Outraged, he offended me and classified my work as
Corpo Fechado: The Devil’s work was performed and exhibited in Portugal last year bitch art. I loved the name, I didn’t even have to think of another title, I took his.”
in a sophisticated staging that blends beyond the story of Pereira and Letter 31, She recalls that today in Brazil, we have the legitimation of violence that comes
excerpts from Walter Benjamin’s Theses on the Concept of History (1892 - 1940 ), from those in power. The artist talks about a necro-political installed with social
canonical text of the critique of the conventions of historicism. Next to the movie is and political power to decide who lives and who dies. “The preferred targets are
the projection of the video “I mark my presence with my own beliefs”, where Paulo LGBTq, black and poor people.”
Pascoal is interviewed by Motta and tells of the difficulties he experienced when he Just as Liz’s work is considered socially inappropriate by a conservative class, Bia

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