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ENGLISH VERSION IN MOURNING I STRUGGLE

processes, from mountains made by nails will focus on this young black artist who burst that displays the weapons of the empire. On
and hammers to lights made from woolen onto the national and international scene with the contrary, Alexandre’s paintings exhibited at
threads, result in images that resemble collages peculiar force. Instituto Tomie Ohtake were made on a fragile
of contradictory elements. However, unlike Since the end of the 19th century, in the West, support that is not even supported by a chassis.
the multiple possible meanings of surrealist art academies have established canons that lent The fragility of this support, paper, is easily
works, there is nothing much more than the importance - relative - to the various genres of detected and perceived in the tears that were
elements of the works themselves. Hammers painting. Thus, more meritorious and worthy incorporated into the painting. Arte Povera,
follow hammers, wool threads follow wool of consideration (and consumption) would be poor, that emerged in Italy in the 1950s and
threads, which takes contemporary art to a the processes that resulted in works dedicated 1960s also praised the cheap material used by
mere formalist exercise. to the affirmation of the elites on duty, whether artists who adhered to this aesthetic. There as
Another set of the exhibition that points to ecclesiastical or not. Works that portrayed here, this choice highlights a political attitude.
this superficiality are the so-called Borracha these aristocracies would be guaranteed at As in the classics, Maxwell Alexandre’s
Sculptures, made in marble that oversize the top of a hierarchical pyramid of aesthetic painting also brings crowds in a dynamic
common everyday objects, such as the school and political values. movement. But, unlike other works, the
material that gives the title to the works. Being represented was imperative and, in bodies presented there are purposely all black,
When the viewer becomes aware of this lack the absence of the monarch, the figure and unmistakably black, and painted in everyday
of depth, relief turns to irritation, because the authority expressed by painting or sculpture situations. And they are not anonymous. Despite
virtuosity of the show points to a total lack of was revered. The representations of the king not having their faces outlined, it is possible to
connection to any context, other than that of art or nobles symbolically projected their powers identify the poet and samba artist Cartola, the
itself, and the only possible lens to observe the and, therefore, were copiously carried out demiurge Arthur Bispo do Rosário or Jean-
set is thinking about categories of the art itself. and distributed. Likewise, his deeds received Michel Basquiat, who join the myriad of other
It is not by chance that Zelevansky’s text in the great attention, since from his paintings of a subjects in this fairy black scene that only on
catalog revolves around the technique of drawing. historical character, warrior or pious deeds of the flat surface of the paper seems chaotic ,
In a society so polarized, conflicted, the monarchs and their likes were disseminated. since the projected space is well composed
prejudiced, and one can say so many other Among us, this historical painting, which is of solid colors decorated with gold.
terms that point to the failure of any humanist almost necessarily epic in its appearance and At the entrance to the gallery that houses the
thought, the exhibition curated by José Augusto pretension, was also practiced and some of exhibition there is a huge painting representing
Ribeiro brings a selection and disposition of these works still occupy a central place in the a group of black people observing and
highly aestheticized works, a set that reveals narratives that predict the birth of the Brazilian commenting on a painting presented as a panel,
a cold and distant beauty, full of puns like Você state and nation. beige or brown, a large empty rectangle yellow
pode me ouvir? (você pode me ouvir?), with two In our case, obeying the inherited and Naples, a very pale yellow. There is painting
trumpets joined at the mouth. colonially imposed academic canons, these within painting, meta-painting. Maxwell
Interestingly, the exhibition’s catalog goes paintings show heroes in action, such as that Alexandre makes us contemplate people who,
in the opposite direction, practically an artist’s Independência ou Morte, made in 1888 by in turn, observe a panel (inside the panel) where
book, since most of it is composed of photos Pedro Américo (1843-1905) from Paraíba and a single color is seen. An acidic and intelligent
of a lambe-lambe with the image of the effigy currently belonging to the collection of the São commentary on the white cube, on the cultural
of the Republic that illustrates the notes of a Paulo Museum of the University of São Paulo, institution that projects it and that reflects in a
real pasted on the walls of the city, mostly in where you see the still Prince Pedro flanked narcissistic way only the color of white allowed
decaying and impoverished places, and in some by an entourage and escorted by cavalrymen in this space, without mirroring the blacks that
of them political demonstrations such as “Fora raising their swords and decreeing Brazilian also occupy it. If there are references to Basquiat
Temer” can be read, giving a sense of the context independence from Portugal. in Alexandre’s painting, this influence does
and becoming a documentation of a powerful The other, Batalha do Avaí, also by Américo, not take away the power of the artist’s works
public installation. was completed in 1877 and can be visited at the and, moreover, it is legitimate. It is nonetheless
It is this vitality that is lacking in the exhibition National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro. consecrating that young black and black female
itself, which proves to be too monotonous It represents a veritable crowd of soldiers artists can refer to other equally black artists,
because it is so beautiful and perfect. Leaving engaged in a fierce battle and which has in the excellent as their influences.
the building in the cracolândia area is a shocking background a Duke, by the way, Caxias, whose The opulence of gold over blue, iridescent
contrast, but it ends up being a relief to return uniform is open - as it appears, this provoked the gold over red, sparkling gold over green, are
to the ugliness and difficulties of the real world, displeasure of the portrayed -, who mounted on present in the composition of these paintings
with all its dynamism and potential. his white horse, coordinates haughty and distant almost as a reminder of the precious metal
the movements of “his” fatally victorious troop. that, prospected by the enslaved in the mines
exhiBitions | maxWell alexandre [pages 32 to 37] These works have in common the gigantic of Minas Gerais, made the wealth of many -
dimensions, the profuse number of soldiers less than those extract it. The gold frames
“BROWN IS PAPER” OR who star in or support the actions described the elements of pop culture, consumption,
the symbols of social ascension promoted by
and, above all, the subordinate and peripheral
THE EPIC GRANDEUR OF role of characters representing the popular sport, work, art and the sometimes inevitable
A PEOPLE IN FORMATION fraction of that society, whether black, women, delinquency in the path of the excluded.
It may be that we identify in Maxwell
indigenous or white miserable.
A Batalha do Havaí is notorious for the number Alexandre’s paintings some festive character,
Presented at Tomie Ohtake Institute after of characters represented in it, for the technical of profane and sacred celebration. In this case,
passing through Lyon, Porto Alegre and prodigy involved in its realization and, of course, it is necessary to understand how much the
Rio, Maxwell Alexandre’s show portrays for the impressive description it makes of a party translates into resistance for that portion
black people in everyday situations with crucial moment in the battle it describes. In that of the population that is the preferred target of
a grandiose, consecrating and historic profusion of characters, bodies in dynamic and the “stray bullets”, of necropolitics ammunition
character dramatic shock, in a central foreground and at that mutilate families and liquidate young lives or
the foot of the scene, we see the body of a black
even in the wombs of young mothers, but that it
soldier who lies with a wounded head - from does not contain or dissipate the unsubmissive
By Claudinei roBerto da silva the split skull the encephalic mass escapes. genius of this insurgent contemporary black
The blacks represented in this battle fight for Brazilian art.
those responsible For the programming the sovereignty of the country that kept them
of Tomie Ohtake Institute, in São Paulo, enslaved. However, the body dehumanized by artiCle | sidney amaral exhiBition [pages 38 to 43]
coincided in their galleries the exhibitions slavery is the same one that sheds blood and
of two artists of African descent: Brown is viscera in that titanic combat presented by LETTER TO SIDNEY
paper, itinerant exhibition by the artist from Pedro Américo.
Rio de Janeiro Maxwell Alexandre; and Di Maxwell Alexandre’s paintings exhibited in AMARAL
Cavalcanti - Muralist, an exhibition by the the Brown is paper show - initially shown at the
renowned modernist painter, curated by Contemporary Art Museum in Lyon (France), In the context of holding the exhibition
Ivo Mesquita. in 2019, and later at the Rio Art Museum (mar) “Viver até o fim o que me cabe! - Sidney
This “encounter” allows us to follow the and at the Iberê Camargo Foundation, in Amaral: aproximação”, at Sesc Jundiaí,
strength of the history of Afro-Brazilian Porto Alegre - also they have an epic, grand, artist and curator Daniel Lima writes a
painting in two different moments and from consecrating, and certainly historic character. correspondence directed to the São Paulo
distant but intertwined pictorial perspectives. They were not performed in Europe like that artist, who died in 2017
A more patient look would perhaps notice of Americo. They are not the result of a request
important narrative coincidences between these from the State, nor were they painted in fine
seemingly disparate universes, but here we linen. Nor do they boast an ornate gilded frame By daniel lima
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