My Highlights from ArtRio 2014
My selection has two main sectors. One consists of work by artists born in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—many of them artists which have been overlooked or who have still not received the recognition they deserve. All of them, except Liliana Porter, are Brazilian.
Basically, these are conceptual works-on-paper and photographs that are critiques of the object, the economy, sexual morale, and other possibilities of organization and emancipation through art. This includes Liliana Porter’s Wrinkle (1968), Artur Barrio’s Jogo do Bicho (an illegal Brazilian game similar to the lotto) (1974), Almandrade’s Sem Cruzeiros (without cruzeiros, the devalued Brazilian currency of the time) (1976), Eduardo Kac’s porn typewriter drawing (1980), Leonora de Barros’ Contra mão (against the flow) photograph (1994), Montez Magno’s Museu of Nanoesculturas (2009), and Paulo Brusky’s ink stamp that says “A arte ainda é a última esperança” (Art is still the last hope) (2014).
These works are presented in dialogue with the work of a younger generation of artists active today that critique the current Brazilian materialistic culture of consumption. Rivane Neuenschwander’s seminal Ze Carioca comic pages erases the characters and dialogue of the famous Disney comic from 2006. Cristiano Lenhardt collages packages of products in Pacoty, and Alexandre da Cunha (in collaboration with Luisa Strina)’s Fair Trade XX, (2014), makes Luisa, his gallerist, work for him embroidering burlap sacks.
My Selection:
Alexandre Da Cunha, Fair Trade XX, 2014, at Galeria Luisa Strina
Almandrade, Sem Cruzeiros, 1976, at Roberto Alban Galeria de Arte
Artur Barrio, Jogo do Bicho, 1974, at Galeria Millan
Eduardo Kac, Cuneiforme, 1980, at Galeria Laura Marsiaj
Paulo Bruscky, A arte ainda é a última esperança, 2014, at Carbono Galeria
Liliana Porter, Wrinkle, 1968, at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte
Cristiano Lenhardt, Pacoty 2, 2014, at Amparo 60
Rivane Neuenschwander, Zé Carioca, 2006, at Galeria Bergamin
Lenora De Barros, Contra mão, 1994, at Galeria Millan
Montez Magno, Museu de Nanoesculturas, 2009, at Galeria Pilar
