Page 121 - ARTE!Brasileiros #49

series Mátria Livre (2018/19), in which they are allegorized through the symbols of the craftsmanship and he wanted something that could have a larger scale”, comments
struggles they have engaged. The paintings institute images in which these women the curator. Outside the building, an ephemeral work of great proportions, chosen by
are not an index of a losing battle, but icons of a free and matriarchal territoriality: the artist himself, is also part of the show.
historicity based on a future that they already inhabited, as their stories constituted The artist was very assertive in what he believed. In a 1967 text, which he called
it and allowed it to reach here in the form of a future in struggle. My Ideas on Color, he proposes the concept of “autonomous color”, in which color
No wonder, Voltarei e serei milhões –, quote by indigenous revolutionary Tupac Katari does not depend on form, specificity, or support. And thus extrapolates media and
–, becomes the title of the painting that Cantuária dedicates to Marielle Franco, who, techniques, using videos, paintings, installations, photographs and appropriating walls,
seated in a throne chair of a saint mother who became an icon of the Black Panthers streets and even gardens.
(symbolized, in turn, by a panther at the feet of the central character), holds Governor On the mezzanine of the institution, the public finds the work Labyrinth Transcromia
Wilson Witzel’s head on a spear while holding the image of the Favela da Maré in her (1965/2017), for the first time shown in Brazil. “He brings to the experience every
chest. aspect of working with color that he proposes, more focused on the body”, says
In the vast set of allegories proposed by Marcela, there are two that deal directly the curator. The idea is for the public to walk through this maze of rectangular
with symbols of power, colonization and the nation: the Christian cross (Jamais uma pieces held by nylon threads and the effect of color overlapping happens randomly,
estrela na bandeira do norte, 2019) and the Brazilian flag (Fantasmas da Esperança, reflected in the white walls and concrete of space. This transfer to the walls takes
2018). Fragmented by the artist’s allegorization, while the cross appears in pieces place in a kind of dancing figure, mixed with the shadows of the people who pass
and upside down, the flag has its central circle detached from the plane of painting, by, caught between the labyrinthine installation that radiates colors. The artist’s
acquiring verse and only fitting back when our body, in the center of that spatiality, kinetics, chromatics and geometrics are completely experienced in the work.
coincides the escape lines of the installation. To these decomposed structures, Cantuária The first underground work is Chromium Interfering Environment, 1974/2019. Projections
overlays adverse images of Brazil’s formation and actuality, contradicting its official on four walls walk straight, while on the floor they walk to meet each other, as if they
interpretations and meanings. add up, forming random figures at these junctions. The public becomes part of the work
As also happens in the series of paintings dedicated to the dictatorships in Latin when projections fall on the bodies that enter the room. Following are two ephemeral
America, the wars or the industrial work and its exploratory relation, the iconographic pieces glued to the wall: “The works are static, but the movement is always present
research by Marcela Cantuária finds symbols and images that, related, assemble the in the perception of the look,” says Villela.
allegories that warn us of the cohabitation of other realities in the interstices of official One of the most iconic works, Chromosaturation is installed in a space composed
history. From the memory of past struggles and the evocation of the forces of the of three rooms where, respectively, red, blue and green lights. As you walk between
future, she elaborates an imaginary where historicity is not limited chronologically, them and depending on where your gaze goes, color perception changes. “It’s
but politically. As an allegorist, she does not “portray” characters or “represent” really a painting in space”, says the curator. Cube-shaped objects are scattered
historical moments: the subjects of Cantuária’s works are less the images than the throughout space as well, giving a dimension of how colors affect each of their parts.
imaginary ones – ambitious and insurgently – performed on their allegories. A more documentary nucleus brings two televisions that display videos: one with
Because they are made in the realm of the social senses, these paintings are offered photographs of works in public spaces, bringing the question of art involved with
to our “interpretation” like a Tarot deck, desiringly urging us to read them so that architecture, and another with testimonials from Cruz-Diez about the works.
they can, in turn, come true. Its political – and socially magical – force is that it is ANOTHER ARTIST
an instituting imaginary that, by enabling it to recognize itself as the community The last room of the exhibition encompasses twenty black-and-white photographs
interested and able to interpret them, establishes a kind of semantic community taken by Cruz-Diez since the beginning of his career. Rodrigo says it was a challenge
whose social, political and aesthetic ties are experienced through the allegories of to convince the artist to show them along with the other formats that the exhibition
Marcela Cantuária. Our symbolic universes are populated by the imaginary that the embraces: “We were able to compose in a way that he was pleased with, which is to
paintings perform and the by the bodies they magnetize: in front of so many people have a separation of the installations and create a more intimate corner for these
and so much voice, we feel less alone. photographs, not connecting with the rest of the production”. The photographs bring
While establishing a community with which diverse subjects can be identified (including traditional elements, such as portraits and landscapes, highlighting a young artist.
those that occupy contradictory social positions), Marcela Cantuária – who for years “We almost have to play an abstraction exercise to think it’s the same artist”, he jokes.
has been a militant with the Popular Brigades – seeks to pave the way for her unique Some of Cruz-Diez’s photos resemble Pierre Verger and even Cartier Bresson, in the
political-economic trajectories, aiming to rub the complicity of art with a benevolent curator’s opinion, and have a certain search for abstraction. These are images from
and cannibal patrimonialism that consumes everything because everything buys. So, Venezuela from the 1950s to photos of trips to Spain, which “have a very momentum
at the end of Suturar Libertar, not selling Voltarei e serei milhões to one of the many thing”, according to Rodrigo, but also an evident documentary character: “When I saw
collectors who disputed it and, alternatively, donating it to the Museu da Maré, is a these photos, I was very impacted because you can’t imagine it’s by the same artist of
political gesture that enunciates a position committed to pain and its therapy beyond the other works”, the curator sought to make a selection that was representative of a
an extractivist allegorization. context that connected their different approaches to photography.
This is what the artist claims when, after the donation, focuses on our responsibilities Rodrigo reveals that the contact for the exhibition was the first one he
regarding the social addressing of the art we produce: “give to whom it hurts”. had with Cruz-Diez himself, although he already knew a lot about his work.
The curator was impressed by the infrastructure of the artist’s team,
HOMENAGEM CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ | PAGE 94 TO 98 very in tune with each other, with the work and with the artist himself.
The photographs also show a Cruz-Diez in a very affective relationship with Venezuela,
A COLOR ACTIVIST to which he often returned, residing in France since the 1960s. Rodrigo comments that
he spoke a lot about his country of origin. One of his greatest works is at Caracas’
Simon Bolivar Airport, which has become the starting point for many Venezuelans
DECEASED AT THE END OF LAST JULY, VENEZUELAN CRUZ-DIEZ HAS A SOLO due to the crisis in the country.
SHOW AT ESPAÇO CULTURAL PORTO SEGURO; SHOW IS THE LAST ONE THE
ARTIST HELPED TO ORGANIZE AND IS CURATED BY RODRIGO VILLELA INSTITUTION BISPO DO ROSÁRIO MUSEUM | PAGE 100 TO 103
THE RESTORATION AND
BY JAMYLE RKAIN
“IT WAS THE LOSS OF A FRIEND” is the phrase that the gallery owners Raquel Arnaud and PRESERVATION OF THE
Luiz Sève agrees, they represent the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. Died in July WORKS BY BISPO DO
of this year at the age of 95, the idea he leaves in the memory of those who knew
him is of a man who overflowed his faith in art, working vigorously on the decisions
that involved his work to the end. ROSÁRIO IN RIO RAISES
At the Galeria de Arte Ipanema, which Sève owns, the artist’s last exhibition in Brazil
was held, in 2014, entitled A Look at Color. Now, the Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro, ARTIST IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERED ONE OF THE EXPONENTS OF
in São Paulo, opened the exhibition Cruz-Diez: The freedom of color, on November CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN ART, ALONG WITH IMPORTANT NAMES LIKE
9th, that will be held until February 2020. The exhibition is the last one where the
artist participated in the entire conception process alongside curator Rodrigo Villela, LYGIA CLARK AND HÉLIO OITICICA
executive and artistic director of the institution in São Paulo.
It is from the collection of Raquel Arnaud that come two of the four works that make TEXT AND PHOTOS PATRICIA ROUSSEAUX, WHO VISITED THE MUSEUM’S WORKS IN
up the first room of the exhibition. In one of them, a small physiometry from 1965, SEPTEMBER
Cruz-Diez’s work was still going through a preindustrial period, says Villela. “Then his
work becomes very industrial. He had this quest to get work off the artisan scale. He DIAGNOSED AS A PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC, Arthur Bispo do Rosário lived for almost 50
said that he did not dedicate himself to painting because the painting had a lot of years, between entrances and exits, as an intern of psychiatric, in hospitals in Rio de

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