7 Works to Collect at ArtRio
Opening on September 29th, the sixth edition of ArtRio welcomes 71 galleries from across the globe to Rio de Janeiro’s bustling port district—quickly becoming a popular cultural destination, with new attractions like the Museum of Tomorrow on the nearby waterfront. Spread across the four warehouses of Pier Mauá, the fair aims to promote Brazil’s artistic legacy, as well as bring work made internationally into the country, by highlighting modern and contemporary practices by emerging, established, and outsider artists alike. Below, we’ve perused the fair’s selection to highlight its most collectible works.
Marcela Flόrido, sinais de amor, 2015
On view at ArtRio:
Anita Schwartz Galeria de Arte, Panorama, Booth E6 - Armazém 3
In the vibrant, large-scale canvases of emerging Brazilian artist Flórido, intimate, curvilinear forms echoing female bodies result in ethereal—and tacitly political—works. “I am not necessarily after a female aesthetic but developing a vocabulary that feels closer to my own intimacy and body—which happens to be a female one,” explains the Brooklyn-based artist. In June, Flόrido returned to Rio de Janiero, her home city, after eight years spent abroad—in London, New Haven (where she graduated from Yale’s MFA program), and now New York—to show new paintings at a solo exhibition at the Galeria de Arte IBEU.
Aurelino dos Santos, Untitled, 2003
On view at ArtRio:
Galeria Estação, Panorama, Booth A2 - Armazém 2
Now in his mid-seventies, Brazilian outsider artist dos Santos translates the urban landscape of the city of Salvador into the geometric signs and symbols that fill his paintings. In this work, the city is pictured from both above and below in a bricolage of architectonic forms, with cross-laden buildings referencing its abundance of churches. Ultimately elusive, dos Santos’s works offer a glimpse into his obsessively creative mind—now living in isolation, he is said to wander the streets of Salvador, mumbling to himself and gathering knickknacks for his artmaking.
Carlos Bevilacqua, Ponte do Isolamento, 2015
On view at ArtRio:
Galeria Fortes Vilaça, Panorama, Booth E5 - Armazém 3
The abstract sculptures of Rio de Janeiro-based artist Bevilacqua—forged with rudimentary materials like wood, wire, and glass—are often exhibited as a group, resulting in a balanced network of complex associations. Yet this “isolation bridge,” made of blocks of wood and nautical cords, functions as a poetic statement on its own. A bridge to nothing, with each smaller bridge leading to yet another and back to itself, the work is poignant meditation on the human experience of loneliness.
Antônio Maluf, Untitled
On view at ArtRio:
Galeria Frente, Panorama, Booth B4 - Armazém 2
The Brazilian painter, draftsman, and graphic artist Maluf is best known for his winning entry for the São Paulo International Biennial’s poster competition in 1951, with a minimalist work that is now recognized as a breakthrough in Brazilian graphic design. Despite eluding strict affiliations with a single movement, his constructivist inclinations—as well as his graphic instincts and strong sense of color—are clear in this captivating painting, which shatters into different shapes to achieve the brilliance of a stained-glass window.
Nilda Neves, Mistura de gatos, 2015
On view at ArtRio:
Galeria Mezanino, Panorama, Booth H3 - Armazém 4
Besides painting, Neves, from the Bahia region of Brazil, has worked a variety of careers, from math teacher to restaurateur to novelist. It was this latter gig which got her into painting, when she decided to paint the cover for one of her first publications. Like her written stories, her paintings reimagine the landscape, characters, and creatures of her hometown, Botuporã. In this work, a medley of fantastical creatures occupy a sparse, dreamlike landscape, rendered in a folkish style reminiscent of Chagall.
Constanza Giuliani, Selfie (Serie Duermo mal), 2015
On view at ArtRio:
PIEDRAS, Vista, Booth V12 - Armazém 4
Painting with an airbrush, the up-and-coming Argentine artist Giuliani bridges street art, pop culture, and surrealism to create hazy surfaces fitting for the disturbing nature of her nightmarish scenes. In this work, from a series inspired by “bad sleep,” she reimagines today’s ubiquitous habit of self-portraiture. Here, humanoids with amphibious lips and eyes supplanted by rear ends grasp, with their oversized hands, a transparent device in mock-selfie-taking gesture.
Eduardo Navarro, 5 Minutes Ago, 2015
On view at ArtRio:
Galeria Nara Roesler, Panorama, Booth D1 - Armazém 3
Buenos Aires-based multimedia artist Navarro is known for his interventions into natural environments, such as making litmus drawings at the summit of an active volcano and asking High Line visitors, in a popular project this summer, to stare at the sun using custom-made protective eyewear. This helmet contraption, exhibited at SculptureCenter earlier this year, appears to defy both gravity and time. In the reflection of the mirrors attached to the transparent helmet, the sand in the hourglass trickles upward, alluding to our warped perception of time in the modern age.
