by Stephanie Wruck | May 10, 2023 | Events
We are pleased to invite you to the inauguration of our physical space in Lisbon, on the 20th of May, from 6 pm to 9 pm at Rua Capitão Leitão 74
HOPE: JERUSA SIMONE
Initially in the virtual realm, the platform opens its physical space in the Marvila neighborhood, on May 20, with the exhibition Oxalá, the first solo exhibition in Lisbon by the Portuguese artist Jerusa Simone. Curated by Cristiana Tejo, the show comprises recent paintings that emphasize recurring signs in her works, such as fire, the eye, dissident bodies, in a dreamlike ambience that evokes the artist's personal memories.
The exhibitions in the Coletivo Amarelo space are like chapters of a story that is unraveled little by little, inviting visitors to return to follow it. Concomitantly, occupations will take place in the Menor Galeria de Lisboa, a Project room that receives artists belonging to the collective and guest artists. The smallest gallery debuts with Veridiana Leite, a Brazilian artist based in Lisbon, who explores visited and imagined landscapes in her paintings in pictorial compositions that intertwine abstractionism and figurativism and human and non-human beings. His canvases often expand to installations and objects.
We are now starting a new chapter for the Yellow Collective. Artworks are a vital part of society and we hope to bridge the gap between art and the public by offering genuine creative experiences. Come toast and celebrate Marvila's vibrant artistic atmosphere with us!
by Stephanie Wruck | Mar 20, 2023 | Events
On the 22nd, the Alentejo International Biennial will take place. The edition of the event, which will take place between March 22 and 26, 2023, in Estremoz, will be attended by more than 140 national and international artists, coming from 15 countries, to guarantee the diversity of models and techniques of artistic expression. contemporary. Among so many artists, Gabriela Albuquerque, founding partner of Coletivo Amarelo, had one of her works selected for the exhibition.
Useless Landscape VI, 2021, Gabriela Albuquerque
Gabriela Albuquerque
Gabriela Albuquerque is a Brazilian artist who seeks to artistically represent her experience in different contexts. His initial training is in Literature at the University of São Paulo, but he soon entered the field of visual arts when he graduated in Criticism and Curatorship at PUC-SP. Afterwards, she worked briefly as a curator and art critic in the city of São Paulo.
The artist moved to Washington DC, the capital of the United States, and began her practical training as a visual artist at the Art League school in Alexandria, Virginia. All this without abandoning his field of criticism and curatorship, actively participating in groups, meetings and workshops promoted by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art.
After three years living in Virginia, Gabriela Albuquerque moved to Seattle, in the state of Washington. In the new city, she entered the Gage Academy of Art where she continued her artistic training.
Currently, Gabriela lives in Cascais, Portugal. The Brazilian finished her training in Painting at the Ar.CO study center and is currently part of the NowHere study and critical follow-up group, under the guidance of curator Cristiana Tejo.
The International Biennial of Alentejo
The first edition of BIALE is organized by ARTMOZ with the support of the Municipality of Estremoz, Regional Directorate of Culture of Alentejo and has as partners the International Biennial of Arts of Cerveira and the National Society of Fine Arts. Among the works by international and national artists, there are works that include paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, ceramics and photographs.
The event begins on March 22 with the inauguration scheduled for 6:30 pm. On Sunday, March 26, the closing session of the Bienal Internacional do Alentejo will take place.
We invite you to attend this event and take advantage of the chance to see works by artists from 15 countries. Including the Brazilian Gabriela Albuquerque, our founding partner.
by Stephanie Wruck | Feb 6, 2023 | Article
It is impossible to deny that art and politics are intertwined. Whether due to the artist's willingness to express his position or his absence, in one way or another, art conveys a political message. One of the wills inherent to the human being that motivates this manifestation is the aspiration for freedom. In the Brazilian historical context this would not be different. After all, the practice of making art in Brazil is, in itself, a political act. With that in mind, in today's article we are going to address the intersection between art and politics in the work of Brazilian artists and their impact on the country.
Art is politics!
Art is and has always been a political expression! It is even possible to analyze this connection in different historical moments. Whether in the Renaissance, when paintings were commissioned and executed according to the political position of the buyer. Be it in a dictatorial moment when art is censored. Art is political and artistic expression has a force, whether intentional or not.
When creating a work of art, the artist can choose to speak out against the system, against oppression and against outdated norms of society, for example. There is an infinity of placements that an artist can employ in his work. Just as there are also artists who do not seek to express a political position, however, the absence of expression is a position in itself.
Contrary to what many people think, the connection between art and politics does not need to have a pamphleteer nature. That is, to support an idea radically and massively. The simple fact that certain artists express themselves and demonstrate their reality in their works is a political act.
When we talk about art and politics, it is also common for society to understand this as an imposition of indoctrination on the spectator. However, reality proves that this is a shallow thought and without much foundation. After all, art is subjective and interacts with each individual in a different way. There are several stimuli and impacts that artistic expression causes on the observer and their interpretation depends on their cultural, political and social baggage.
Art and Politics in the Brazilian Context
In Brazil, a country rich in culture and diversity, art is a strong political tool. To illustrate this, we draw a timeline with different artists and their impacts on Brazilian society.
Almeida Júnior – Caipira chopping tobacco
The artist lived in the 19th century, more precisely between 1850 and 1899. Almeida Júnior is usually associated with a word that can be seen as pejorative: “caipira”. This relationship comes from his representation of the Brazilian people in their plurality, focusing on “ordinary” people and avoiding the representation of the illustrious and aristocratic, as was usual.
Oswald de Andrade – Anthropophagic Manifesto
The 1920s are a historic milestone for Brazilian art. 101 years ago, the Modern Art Week took place, starting the modernist movement in the country. A few years later, in 1928, Oswald de Andrade published his Manifesto Antropofágico. Inspired by the ideas of the artist and political activist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the creator of futurism in art, Andrade founded a historical movement.
The artist published his manifesto in the magazine Antropofagia, in São Paulo, with the aim of “swallowing” techniques and influences from other countries. In this way, Oswald de Andrade encouraged the creation of a new Brazilian artistic aesthetic.
The movement took its name from promoting the “cannibalism” of foreign culture. After all, foreign culture greatly influenced Brazilian art. The artist's objective was to promote a new, multicultural and original Brazilian identity, as well as its people.
Tarsila do Amaral – Abaporu
One of the most famous paintings by the acclaimed Brazilian artist, Abaporu dialogues directly with the work of her husband, Oswald de Andrade, in Manifesto Antropofágico.
The painting features a seated man with disproportionate limbs, with enlarged hands and feet and a tiny head compared to the rest of the body. In addition, the sun in the center of the painting and the representation of a cactus reinforce the idea that we can understand from the painting.
The work is seen as a critique of physical work, exhausting and with little critical thinking, representing the reality of a large part of the population at the time. The painting was painted in 1928 and marks the artist's anthropophagic phase, which lasted until 1930.
Art and politics during the Military Dictatorship in Brazil
During the years 1964 and 1985, Brazil went through the Military Dictatorship, a dark and repressive period. There were almost 30 years of military oppression and artists, of course, were one of the big classes affected, persecuted and censored by the dictatorship.
Art as politics has not been silent, on the contrary. Even living in a time of censorship, many artists used their work in favor of freedom of expression, which was increasingly silenced.
We separate some of the artists who stood out in the fight against an oppressive and dictatorial system:
Cildo Meireles – Red Shift
Cildo Meireles is a Brazilian artist known for his pioneering work in creating art installations in the country. During the dictatorship, the artist demonstrated a strong political position, which we can analyze in his installation “Desvio para o Vermelho” (1967 – 1984). The installation is marked by these two dates as it marks the year it was conceived (1967) and the year of its first assembly (1984).
The work is divided into three rooms painted in red and articulated with each other. In the first environment, Impregnation, we are inserted in a white room filled with furniture and works in shades of red. This is contrasted in the penumbra of Entorno, the second environment, where it is possible to observe an overturned bottle, with a red liquid flowing in a totally dark environment. In the last environment, Desvio, the sound of running water guides the viewer into a completely dark room. The darkness is broken only by a funky sink, where red water flows, creating sound.
Hélio Oiticica – Tropicália
Tropicália is a term created by the artist Hélio Oiticica and represented in an installation exhibited in the Nova Objetividade Brasileira show, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 1967. The work is an environment composed of Penetráveis, PN2 (1966) – Pureza É a Myth, and PN3 (1966-1967) – Imagery. This was the work that inspired the aesthetic creation of the tropicalista movement between the 1960s and 1970s.
The work is rich in elements typical of Brazilian popular culture, such as sand, earth, tropical plants, fabrics, among others. All these elements together subverted the aesthetic order of European modernism.
Anna Maria Maiolino – “What's left”
Through political and provocative work, Italian-Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino explored different materials and means of expression. During dictatorial periods, the ever-present questions were: “How to speak? How to communicate in times of dictatorship?”.
These doubts are expressed in the artist's work, such as the photograph “O que Sobra” (1974), which shows a woman with her tongue exposed between scissors. Through her art, the artist questions!
Adriana Varejao
The artist has a unique vision and work. His work starts from a question: “What if the walls had viscera, muscles and blood?”. Adriana Varejão is among the most important names in Brazilian contemporary art and has a pavilion dedicated to her work at Inhotim, the largest open-air museum in the world, located in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais.
However, his work is not limited to the idea of walls that simulate human entrails. In her works on display at Inhotim, the artist criticizes the wounds left by Brazilian history.
Regina Parra
The artist expresses her art through painting, photography and video, with a strong political nature linked to current issues about feminism and survival in a universe that is still misogynistic and sexist. Regina Parra addresses themes such as oppression, insubordination and female resistance in her works.
Art and politics in the current scenario of Brazil
Brazilian politics has been disruptive, to say the least. It was four years of a government that was openly against artistic expression. The Ministry of Culture was extinguished right at the beginning of the former president's term, the audiovisual sector was scrapped and art was discouraged.
The year 2023 began with the change of this government, but the transition has not been smooth. The current president of Brazil, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, took office on January 1st and, just a week later, supporters of the former president invaded the buildings of the three powers in Brasília. The terrorist attacks carried out by an articulated group left a devastating scenario.
The country's public property was destroyed or damaged, including priceless works of art. Among the losses is the painting As Mulatas, by Di Cavalcanti. It is a horizontal panel with great emphasis on four female figures working superimposed on a large landscape. They are brown-skinned, mestizo and mulatto women.
In this painting, the artist uses the same logic as Almeida Júnior, which is to give prominence to marginalized and socially oppressed figures, but who are the core of the functioning of our social fabric. Estimated at R$ 8 million, the work in question was in the Great Hall of the Planalto Palace and had seven tears in its canvas.
In addition to the acclaimed work of Di Cavalcante, several works of art were hit and destroyed in the terrorist attacks of January 8, 2023.
The destruction of this heritage by extremists proves that art is political! It proves that art is indeed necessary. After all, the Brazilian reality expressed with the intention of coping generates discomfort even in the most lay people. Art is political and always will be, regardless of how many opposing forces arise.
by Stephanie Wruck | Jan 6, 2023 | new artist
Coletivo Amarelo is proud to bring another amazing artist to our repertoire. Shikha Baheti Lohia is an Indian artist with a unique vision and artistry.
Meet Shikha Baheti, an artist who expresses her experiences through botanical art and black ink
Shikha Baheti's works are a visual summary of his reflections and principles on facets of nature that are not just aesthetic, but existential. After all, time and experience, wisdom and age, death and survival are intrinsic parts of the process of living.
An emerging artist from Hyderabad, capital of Telangana state, Shikha created abstract botanical designs assimilating the physiological aspects of survival, age and wisdom, using flowers as the theme of her work. The artist deconstructs the flower to expose its primordial aspects of reproduction, hunger and survival.
Drawing parallels with coming of age after becoming a mother, Shikha looks beyond the beauty and fragility that flowers are often associated with and sees them as a matriarchal beacon of wisdom, determination and resilience. His use of black ink is inspired not only by his educational background, but also by the fact that black and white are all-encompassing and, in his opinion, the purest, humblest, and truest colors.
Currently, the artist is on display with two exhibitions, one at the Art Mela and another at The Holy Art Gallery, in London, a gallery dedicated to emerging artists.
It is an honor to welcome Shikha Baheti to the Yellow Collective.
The representation of flowers in feminine art
Shikha Baheti is not the first woman to use the representation of flowers in her art. We selected four female artists who, throughout their careers, represented flowers in their artistic vision.
Georgia O'Keeffe
The American artist is known for her poetic paintings of different species of flowers and is considered one of the leading female figures in art history.
Her use of color and the organic shapes of flowers bring a feminine and delicate air that also comes from the painter's great interest in music. Flowers have appeared in her paintings since 1918, but it was not until 1924 that she painted her first enlarged flower. Between 1918 and 1932, the artist produced more than 200 paintings of all kinds of flowers: roses, petunias, poppies, camellias, sunflowers, etc.
Red Canna, Georgia O'Keeffe
Marianne North
Marianne was an English biologist, also known for her paintings of flowers, plants and natural landscapes. His work has remarkably and incredibly accurately captured the deepest details of botany.
In 1870, he traveled to Brazil, where he spent 8 months producing more than 100 paintings from the observation of the ecosystem and fauna he found there. This passion for landscapes and painting led the artist to seclusion in a cabin in the forest, where she painted in oil the landscapes she found.
Easter Flower or Easter Flower, Morro Velho, Brazil, Marianne North
Anna Atkins
Botanist and photographer, Atkins was the first artist to publish a photo book with images, as well as being one of the first female photographers. Anna produced cyanotypes, which are images printed in blue, in the artist's case, of flowers and plants. His frames were revolutionary for the time. In them, the artist placed plants on photographic paper, producing delicate photograms. The amazing thing about this process is that it was done in 1850!
Cystoseira fibrosa Cystoseira, Anna Atkins' British Algae
Hilma af Klint
The Swedish Hilma af Klint is considered a pioneer of abstract art. In the mid-1890s, the artist produced some botanical studies and transferred them to detailed drawings in watercolor and graphite on paper.
Between the years 1906 and 1915, Hilma created more than 150 paintings.
On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees, Hilma af Klint
Shikha Baheti walks her path to join these great artists as a woman who uses flowers to represent the full complexity of her existence. Coletivo Amarelo is very proud to be part of this history. Buy Shikha's exclusive works now.
by Stephanie Wruck | Nov 22, 2022 | new artist
How to learn about art? This somewhat subjective issue is addressed by one of the newest artists to join Coletivo Amarelo, Gianlluca Carneiro. The Brazilian artist and teacher is directly involved with citizenship and ethics projects, and within the classroom, he has found ways to introduce his students to politics through education through art.
Meet Gianlluca Carneiro and his vision on art education
In his portfolio, Gianlluca shares a bit of his story. Born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, the visual artist is also a history teacher at the municipal network of Cariacica, in Espírito Santo. In addition, Gianlluca holds a Bachelor of Laws and studied art and education at CEFART in Belo Horizonte.
From a very early age, more precisely from the age of 6, Gianlluca demonstrated himself as an artist through painting. Since then, his career has spanned more than 20 years, taking his art to different exhibitions in Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Espírito Santo. Not to mention publications in nationally and internationally renowned magazines and exhibitions, such as his work “Humor Azul, Coração Azul” which was a finalist at the Doncaster Art Fair.
Gianlluca Carneiro calls his artistic universe Cabeça Vazia, a play on the popular saying “an empty head is the devil's workshop”. In his own words: “The important thing is that this empty head is full and busy producing works with colors, strokes and colorful and chaotic compositions always supported by criticism of political and social structures and the contemporary way of life”.
The contemporary artist is aligned with the most recent discussions present around the world. One of them is the importance of rethinking the current art education system.
documents 15
Documenta is one of the largest contemporary art exhibitions in the world and takes place every five years in the city of Kassel, Germany. The exhibition was created in 1955 by Arnold Bode, in post-war Germany. Part of his motivation came from the need to return to the art that was banned by Nazism and to reintroduce the country to the latest international trends. Since then, the Documenta 15 exhibition has become a major institution in the art world.
In 2022, the 15th edition of the exhibition took place, curated by the ruangrupa collective from Jakarta, Indonesia. The collective based Documenta on the values and ideas of a very common term in Indonesia, lumbung, which means something like “community rice granary”. The idea of using this term as an artistic and economic model is based on principles such as collectivity, the joint construction of resources and their fair distribution.
In this edition, several points resonate and one of them dialogues directly with the art and the active positioning of Gianlluca Carneiro, which is to rethink the structures of contemporary artistic education. In the exhibition, this is translated from the idea of the collective and questions why we cannot learn from each other, breaking paradigms, such as the authority figure of the teacher?
This idea of transforming education is expressed in Documenta 15 through the art of *foundationClass, a collective formed in 2016 at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (KHB). The collective emerged as an educational platform for art and a toolkit created to make life easier for immigrants who are affected by racism in Germany.
To delve into this concept of collective artistic education and get to know the artist better, Coletivo Amarelo held an interview with Gianlluca Carneiro. Read an excerpt from our conversation, which we opened with a speech by the artist that unifies all this thinking behind artistic education and this untapped potential.
Gianlluca: I see a lot of artistic potential among my students that is not so explored within the school and I, as a teacher and artist, try to bring that to them at all times. Bring what? Bring ideas to awaken something in them, demystify this idea that art is only in the museum, when in fact we make art all the time. And use it to debate politics
Yellow Collective: Are there obstacles within the school to bring these new models in? What is the resistance?
Gianlluca: The craziest thing about all of this is that I am part of a project called Ensina Brasil, aimed at areas of social vulnerability, and by coincidence I ended up in a school where there are military personnel. For a moment I thought this would be a hindrance, but I manage to bring the subject of politics in a deeper way, without superficial speeches and also without partisanship. But doing this using art even makes the process easier within the school, incredible as it may seem.
Yellow Collective: The figure of the teacher is a place of comfort, security, where “there are no dumb questions”, a less intimidating space… You, as a teacher, what advice would you give to those who want to start making art, learn more about art, but don’t do you know where to start or maybe you feel shy?
Gianlluca: Detachment from art sometimes comes from very complex languages, difficult for us to introduce people… I'll give you an example of something that happened to me this week. I had an art contest at school, I stressed that there would be a prize, but that it was not to encourage that aggressive competitiveness, but to stimulate creation.
A special education student of mine, he has a glass eye, low vision, and he won the drawing competition. It was a stand outside, his smile was something unbelievable. Another student, with very low self-esteem, won the painting contest, and she could never see what she was doing. Always saying that everything he did was shit*… This showed me once again that art is what we do in the most genuine way possible.
The way to start is indeed complicated, but today we have so many new forms, collectives like Coletivo Amarelo, alternative proposals, places that receive us more openly and that encourage us to do things. This is for those who are starting to make art, consume, live from it. As banal as it may be, the secret is to throw yourself in full.
Yellow Collective: What you said, about today having access to so many tools and information, sometimes scares too. Because maybe it makes the person a little bit without knowing where to start or without understanding where he fits into all of this... And we end up forgetting that artistic making is a time-consuming process, that it takes time, a really slow digestion. The artist's process of being reclusive there, “waiting for something” to happen, is extremely lonely at times and super confusing.
Gianlluca: It is a process that takes a long time. And we don't do it for a gallery, we do it because it has to be done. I'm a little crazy… I have my sketchbook, my doodles… and the ideas come, the colors, the shapes, and from them I experiment. Most of the time it doesn't get where I want it. There are layers that build up and, I'm not afraid, I don't plan too much, I'm more of an action person.
Exclusive works by Gianlluca are available in our store, check them out!
by Stephanie Wruck | Nov 10, 2022 | new artist
Coletivo Amarelo is constantly growing and we are proud to present another artist who will be part of the collective, Jerusa Simone. The Portuguese artist, who now lives in Zurich, has a unique look gathered throughout her life and expressed through her art. By trying to recreate memories and emotions, Jerusa's work dialogues with surrealism.
Meet Jerusa Simone, an artist who recreates moments and experiences through surrealism
Jerusa Simone's art is mainly based on her daily personal experiences, emotions and recurring memories. During her process, the artist often works from naive drawings that arise from abstract backgrounds devoid of a pre-existing idea. In this way, Jerusa embraces painting as an act based on spontaneous movements and intuitive choices.
This origin of art in the subconscious and the attempt to recreate memories is directly linked to surrealism, expressed through its creations. His objects take forms based on subtlety and informal lines, forming human figures, reproducing familiar visual signs, together with a certain strangeness.
In order to stimulate the viewer visually and intellectually, all of the artist's work consists of reconstructing the connection between symbols, meanings, colors and textures, regardless of the medium used.
Jerusa Simone is originally from the city of Porto, in Portugal, but today lives in Zurich, Switzerland. The artist graduated in plastic arts from the Porto Artistic School and the Accademia di Belli Arti di Roma.
In recent years, Jerusa has explored different supports of painting through video art. With that, she got the opportunity to exhibit internationally in different contexts and places, such as Portugal, Italy, Saudi Arabia, England, Greece, Spain, United States and, recently in her host country, Switzerland.
The Woman and Surrealism
This year, the Venice Biennale held its 59th edition and, for the first time in 127 years, exhibited mostly female artists. In this edition, the Bienal addressed the mysteries of the human subconscious and its surrealism from the perspective of female artists.
Curated by the Italian Cecília Alemani, the exhibition explored themes that orbit the imagination of different realities, the universe of dreams and new perceptions about what it means to be human. In addition, it linked the influence of technology in the creation of new beings and the rescue of our imagination as children.
Jerusa's work, in turn, is entirely linked to the theme of the exhibition. This relationship is mainly marked by the artist's attempt to revisit memories through painting. By carrying out this memory exercise, the artist creates strange scenarios, yet somewhat familiar to the viewer.
Accompanying this trend of women in surrealism, Jerusa Simone creates something surreal in the midst of the confusing and intense times we are living.
To welcome her to Coletivo Amarelo and unite her unique vision with ours, we conducted an interview with the artist. Read an excerpt from our conversation and learn a little more about Jerusa Simone, a woman who uses her experiences and surrealism to express her art.
Yellow Collective: About the painting “Memories of a future match”, the joke you make with the words is interesting: “memory” being something that refers to a past, of something that has not yet happened, that is in the future. There is a certain attempt to manipulate time, traffic… talk a little more about this work, what was the creation process behind it?
Jerusa Simone: Basically, that painting was done at a very specific moment of transition, I was in Italy, about to move to Switzerland. This feeling is very strange, but it was already known. An area that I already knew more or less that I was going to face. Dealing with the scene of the new and the old, this duality. The painting is divided into two parts: the upper part with elements related to the Italian column. This almost obese body, which is inspired by the work of Lucien Freud. I looked at that body, and I wanted to bring this idea of beauty and ugliness, and give space to women again, without hypersexualizing the female body, but bringing other bodies. I wanted to see myself represented. I always had a lot of problems with myself, so looking at Freud's paintings, I thought: "Wow, this is grotesque, but so beautiful". These marginalized bodies, almost confrontational, force the audience to look. And the body always has a red outline, and it's always in the corners, but always there. The position reflects this, this phase of change, of fear. It's a familiar place, but it's scary.
HERE: It has a dreamlike quality, that we wake up and the dream is very clear, and as time passes, the details of the dream fade away. And your work has this characteristic of memory that is a little blurry. What's it like to make a painting that reflects your present moment, and then years later, revisit that same painting and look back at those memories, a little fuzzy, with that dreamlike quality? Something changed?
Jerusa Simone: Looking at it now, I can feel all my motivations, I remember all the elements that I added, that I eliminated… and now, at this moment, I am where I wanted to be when I made this painting. I've been in Switzerland for two years now, but in the meantime, I've overcome my fear that was very present in this work. That element of putting your hand in the fire is something I use a lot, it's almost a self-portrait, I put myself in danger, but I can't help it. A self-sabotage, transitional scene, of leaving something behind.
HERE: This painting illustrates a personal transition event of yours, where you moved from one place to another and placed the elements that were present in that process. But even though this was a specific section of your life, I can look at it and see myself there in some way, maybe in some transition that I went through, but I do it through someone else's dream. Almost as if I had visited someone else's dream. Do you think this is part of female surrealism?
Jerusa Simone: I had to discover this small niche (feminine surrealism), which is this game that I play with various elements, this exchange of meanings of the elements that I use, and as time goes by and I accumulate new experiences, things are being erased and transforming. So my work makes this game, almost like a puzzle…
Exclusive works by Jerusa are available in our store, check it out!
by Stephanie Wruck | Oct 18, 2022 | Events
What if we could re-imagine the landscapes we circulate through art?
The piece “Náutica 01” is a collaboration between Rafaela Salgueiro and Duda Affonso, both Brazilian artists residing in Portugal.
The duo proposes, based on their individual theoretical and poetic investigations, a partnership that aims to merge photography with pictorial intervention. Following a proposal for the invention of realities, the artists see photographic intervention as a way of creating new possible worlds. Rafaela believes that painting allows us to expand our imagination beyond the boundaries of what is represented by a photograph.
Rafaela's work explores the mechanism of simultaneously revealing and hiding elements of an image, giving the viewer new possibilities for interaction while building other narratives. Duda Affonso, in turn, observes the world and collects remnants of stories that could one day exist, whether through photography, collage or cinema, while building his own imagination.
This piece is an invitation to re-imagine the nautical landscape, celebrating the revitalization of the Cascais Marina, Portugal. By adding layers of paint over each element of the image, the artist reveals possible realities that perhaps live only within our subconscious.
Photograph made in 35mm in Italy, 2019.
by Stephanie Wruck | May 2, 2022 | new artist
Through a welcoming and intimate perspective, Gabriela Vasconcellos captures the trivial, creating compositions that intend to make us face inner feelings and sensations. Her work serves as an attempt to connect us to our essence using an intuitive approach. The photographs present themselves as a calm energy, and it is through mastering texture and tone that Gabriela manages to free herself from the obvious. She carefully applies elements of everyday life, adding a layer of delicacy and tenderness combined with the nostalgic aesthetics of analogue photography. The result is incredibly sensitive photos that the artist believes can be a way to rediscover hidden parts of ourselves.
Born in Brazil, Gabriela works as a journalist and art therapist, in addition to capturing her surroundings with a 35mm camera. Shooting on film means experiencing the passage of time differently and she is interested in capturing the small moments of everyday life, feeling time in its entirety and allowing yourself to slow down. In times of digital acceleration and productivity, it's radical to take the opposite approach when it comes to work. Gabriela's photographs help us reflect on the way we move through life, offering a chance to simply pause.
Gabriela shared with us some important tips about film shooting and what helped her the most when she started experimenting with analogue photography.
Ways to take better pictures with your analog camera according to Gabriella Vasconcelos
1) Develop your photos
This tip may seem extremely obvious, but it is very common for people to buy an analog camera, hoping to take beautiful pictures, but never to develop the film. Gabriella says it's important to develop the film to see what kind of pictures we're getting and what can be improved. So don't hoard endless rolls of undeveloped film, go develop!
Gabriela says, “The other reason why it's important to develop your film is because it will allow the analogue process to really enter into your creative practice. Many people are reluctant to start shooting film because they think it takes too much effort, but that's because they haven't incorporated the habit of developing film into their work routine yet. I used to take pictures all the time using a film camera, but I never took the time to actually develop the film, so I didn't even know what kind of work I was producing.”
2) Always have extra footage with you
You never know when you're going to run out of film, so here's your reminder to always have an extra roll of film on hand. So you never miss that opportunity to photograph something special you found.
3) Be aware of your surroundings
When shooting on film, you never know what the result will be. Gabriella thinks it's important to be more attentive when you go for a walk. “Look up, look down, explore every angle around you and experiment. You never know what's going to come out - and that's a good thing! Take your time with this too, it adds layers of thought to your photos.”
4) Keep in mind that the analog process follows its own time
It is worth noting that taking pictures with a film camera implies that the whole process develops differently than digitally. Analogue photography has its own time constraints and specificities and Gabriella believes it is imperative to immerse yourself in the process and get used to it.
“It takes time to develop the film, to digitize the photos (if that's something you'd like to do) and understand that time not as a problem, but as a process that allows you to be much more present while you're shooting. It's a totally different experience to take a photograph of something using your phone and film camera. Even if I'm photographing the exact same subject – it's important to feel comfortable with the process itself.”
Gabriela's photographs are available for purchase in our store.
by Stephanie Wruck | Apr 18, 2022 | Article
Gradient Art is a technique that uses colors from a gradient to create a work of art. An increase in the popularity of gradient art has occurred, which is when a gradual blending of one color into another occurs, creating different color transitions. Depending on the colors used, the resulting gradient art can evoke a wide range of emotions and feelings, transforming your surrounding spaces.
What is gradient art?
Gradient art is a type of art that uses a gradient of colors to create the illusion of depth and three-dimensional space. Colors are also used in other ways such as painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, etc. With this type of art, light can be thrown at an object from different angles, giving it a realistic look. The colors also change depending on how you view them, providing an artistic appeal and allowing for different interpretations by viewers.
Artists use different techniques to create these paintings, such as layering, blending, and applying gradients with different colors or textures. They can do this using various brushes, pencils, crayons, or even their fingers.
But what are gradients? And how do they differ in color?
Gradients are color transitions that gradually change from one color to another. Angles are typically created with a series of paints mixed to varying degrees. Color gradients are the most common type of gradient and can be used for backgrounds or borders, but they can also be used for other purposes such as creating an accent wall or adding depth to an image. A rainbow gradient is often used to create depth and dimension in images.
There are different types of gradients, including radial gradients, linear gradients, and diagonal gradients.
Mark Rothko and his own use of gradient art
Known for his large, encapsulating, colorful paintings, Mark Rothko was interested in evoking basic human emotions – anger, dismay, ecstasy – through painting. His work was expansive in the use of color, as well as the wide open spaces created, allowing the viewer to experience different sensations.
Rothko's gradients weren't precisely blended, instead they were constructed in a way that invited the viewer to question which color was placed on the canvas first. He first developed his compositional technique in 1947, described by noted art critic Clement Greenberg as "color field painting", a term that would perfectly describe Rothko's work.
Rothko's gradients are unlike any other because of the way the artist created his paintings. Rothko applied a large amount of black paint in irregular strokes across the canvas and then smeared around the edges, creating a scratchy effect. Rothko's unique gradients are found in small areas of the paintings, usually in the middle when tones transition from one to another.
His paintings were created to be experienced personally, where the atmosphere of the space translates the different emotions transmitted by the colors. One of Rothko's most famous series is Seagram's Murals, shown at the Tate Modern in London. The series is made up of seven dark and somber paintings, using a palette of blacks, reds and browns. Rothko's gave the paintings to the Tate Modern, the museum where the largest collection of works by JMW Turner is housed, and because of his own admiration for Turner, Rothko expected the series to be displayed in the gallery alongside Turner's works.
The shift in atmosphere from Rothko's dark gradients to Turner's perfectly blended gradient art skies is deeply moving. A dialogue between the two is instantly created as visitors walk from one gallery to the next.
From Rothko's colored rectangles to the gradient scanned art used in advertising, experimenting with color is fundamental to both the creation of artwork and the viewer experience.
How does each color make you feel?
Is it possible to describe such feelings?
Are they uncomfortable? Or are they soothing?
What kind of emotion does a specific color gradient evoke?
For more information about the Tate collection: https://www.tate.org.uk/
by Stephanie Wruck | Dec 21, 2021 | Article
To continue our discussion about time, we spoke with artist Dárida Rodrigues, originally from São Paulo. Her research materializes through audiovisual installations, audio walks, performances and site specifics as an attempt to investigate relational art and human consciousness itself. Dárida shared with us the experience of creating in isolation, the role of plenty of time in artistic practice and her personal relationship with the passage of time.
I would like to start by talking about the intentionality behind your work on “lengthening time” for a closer look at our surroundings and what lives inside us as well. Where did this need to unite artistic practice with meditative methods come from?
D: Well, I feel that time, or rather the passing of time, is one of the only constants in our experience, while everything changes. And the possibility that time “stops, stretches or flies” based on our perception of each particular experience has always interested me a lot. I think this phenomenon of change in perception and, above all, the relationship established between it and our mental and emotional states, is also one of the things that have always connected me to meditative practices for a long time now.
So I think that this opening of an internal space where temporality unfolds in other possible configurations and that simultaneously allows one to more fully inhabit the present moment, which I explored a lot through meditation, of emptying even for a few seconds the mind also crosses my work, I think, before intentionality. It is really a gap that attracts me as an investigation and that I am interested in exploring in this transposition of territories between art and life, perhaps because, at least for me, these meditative fields, or the spiritual, if you like, is also the field where art operates . It has become naturally part of the process to integrate or even subvert meditative methods when trying to create relationships between subjectivity, time and space.
His last work “Vice-Versa” explores this idea of movement of affections that interconnect the inside and the outside, the reception and expression of information and images… And the work also ended up illustrating the passage of time through the observation of the flow of people on the street and interactions with the work itself. What did you glean from the experience of creating the work “Vice-Versa”?
D: I'm still processing this crop…because the work has uncovered many layers that have been interesting to observe. But I can say that this impulse to try an inversion of point of view, taking advantage of this relationship between the inside and the outside that the space of the shop window and the street provides, through the resource of projected video, allows many other relationships to be established and developed. confront, as for example that of time with space, in the inverted mirror that does not directly reflect the observer, created through the video and that draws our attention a lot for the possibility of experiencing 2 or more temporalities simultaneously, such as what happened inside, what was going on outside, in the present moment and what was going on in what was seen in action in the video performance/projected mirror, which still brought other speeds, repetitions and interventions and which mediated these different relationships between subjects, plants, passers-by of the present and the image. I feel it's worth exploring this relational timespace further.
His other work [Des]segredo proposed a trajectory of a mapped path to traverse the work in a certain space. How do site-specific works manipulate our perception of time?
D: In the process of creating [Des]segredo, which was also a master's project, the audio-wall À Luz, developed for a specific journey in the Lisbon Fine Arts building, which is a very old building, of historical materiality, where one feels the weight not only material but temporal as well; it was interesting to explore the proposition of an inner (or meditative) drift through displacement in space, as a process of approximation to a common place of a one-to-one relationship, around the idea of the Secret, which was proposed at the end.
From this soundscape brought by the voice instructions, experienced and recreated in the present when walking through space and also through the subjective temporalities that happen at the moment, for each participant, I was also able to observe how a space/time journey was made specifically to exist in a space in an artistic scope, can not only influence (or manipulate) our perception of time but also be influenced by it. This is because I feel that the site-specific works are intrinsically linked to the space, at the same time that they open up, through this possibility of the manifestation of a subverted temporal space, to interventions and transformations of the same and in this sense, they are very interesting in this exploration of the interior and relational universe in dialogue with temporality.
The work [In]surge, which was created during the quarantine, is another work of auditory immersion. One of our questions within the theme of time is to investigate how the lack or abundance of time affects the creation processes. What was it like creating this work during a period of isolation?
D: It was, at the very least, a good questioning exercise, so much so that in the beginning I called the [In]Surge series “Exercises for “Touching the becoming, Embracing the pain and Chewing the real”.
I, who had decided to kind of transgress in the field of art, some meditative methods, by proposing displacement, distraction, a poetics that involved me personally in the texts and in the audios, suddenly I felt that life asked, first of all, to digest, with an unprecedented limitation of space and movement, a dystopian and uncertain reality, where these “conventional” meditation methods, despite being very useful physiologically, did not seem to make much sense to me at that moment. It was really a necessity to integrate them with the creation process. So I started to write these audio instructions to work with the possibilities of a meditative and sensorial abstraction from this condition of confinement and the sudden pseudo-abundance of time and impossibility of movement, with all the emotions and questions that arose and insurged internally.
Is it possible for artists to take advantage of the esoteric nature of the creation process in an extremely fast-paced world like the one we live in today?
D: Yes, it is difficult to think what is not possible in terms of art. But personally, I feel that it is essential to let ourselves exist in life and art in the most integral way that is possible for each one, so as not to be totally swallowed or captured by the extremely capitalized and mediatized life, which characterizes the instituted, flawed, “humanism”. but accelerated today. And I think that this esoteric, spiritual or transpersonal universe is much broader and present in our subjective experience than we often imagine or intellectualize, especially since we almost always operate within the hegemonic Western thought, where we have difficulty making room for what is not it can be configured by these parameters and so we do not connect with the possibilities of intuiting and creating rituals or spells that are natural and not “supernatural”, to explore our inner universe and invent other realities. The artistic field is very fertile ground for this exploration, in my opinion. Much of what we see as part of an esoteric nature and that is not related to the rational thinking we know, may be common practice for some other communities and species, for example. If we see or make art only from the point of view of our (often limited) culture, we will always leave out experiences and experiences that may be fundamental to exist and who knows, to flourish in fact and politically in the present. I don't see space/time more receptive to this than art.
by Stephanie Wruck | Dec 13, 2021 | Article
To start our discussion around the theme of TIME, today we bring the work of the artist Hilma af Klint, who created more than 150 paintings between the years 1906 and 1915. These paintings were called “The Paintings of the Temple” and consist mainly of images abstract and organic shapes inspired by the geometry of nature. Klint's work presents a world beyond the one we know; that transcends its current time and challenges the way we observe reality.
Klint envisioned a temple that would house the paintings and described it in one of his many diaries as a "round building, where visitors would ascend a spiral staircase on a spiritual journey". Hilma's description is extraordinary, as she describes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, which would only be built decades later and would also be the host museum for her solo exhibition “Paintings for the Future” in 2018. Frank Lloyd Wright , the architect of the Guggenheim, created an untraditional place for non-objective art, and both he and Klint shared an affinity for the organic forms and spiritual symbolism surrounding the spiral. Both Wright's architectural vision and Klint's paintings were a break with tradition, offering a new approach to creative expression.
Klint's mysticism involves many interests in occultism, theosophy, spiritualism and scientific concepts. The paintings for the temple served as a testament to higher spirits and the artist spent nearly a decade working on them. His abstract paintings changed the course of art history and posed the question: what is the role of time in the esoteric process of making art?
How can artists manipulate the passage of time through their practices?
by Stephanie Wruck | Dec 10, 2021 | Article
What is the role of temporality in the artistic process?
The concept of time has been at the center of artistic expression, from the rapid strokes of the Impressionists to Bruce Nauman's observation of time in relation to space; time served both as a catapult for the emergence of new points of view and as a subject for deeper investigations. The way artists understand time in the context of their practice has always reflected the dynamic between the artist and the external demands of the world, whether through contemplation or intervention.
As we live in an ever-changing, extremely fast-paced world and our social experiences are mediated by frenetic demands, how does the lack or abundance of time affect artistic practice?
Some main points to consider:
Temporality in the process of producing art
First, it is important to think about the ways in which time has entered artistic practice and how artists try to portray the abstract and invisible nature of time through the visual arts. Secondly, the act of contemplating a work of art is also interchangeable, as the work itself changes over time, gaining new perceptions and meanings. Nagel and Wood (2010) argued that works of art always “inhabit plural temporalities”, as a work of art is made by someone at a given moment, but refers to ideas or events that often preceded that moment, or point to for an imagined future. (Serafini and Banks).
Portfolio-oriented artistic practice
While artists work in increasingly time-limited conditions, having to be self-sufficient and produce work for specific formats and platforms (a portfolio, a website or social media), is there room left for surprises and slow experimentation?
As our digital environments become more complex, the need to produce work that is relevant to current times seems to be the only “correct” way to make art. But if relevant topics are constantly changing and it's impossible to keep up with their speed, is there any time left to allow ideas to develop organically? How can artists take advantage of the esoteric – and often slow – nature of the creative process in today's world?
Lack of time when looking at art
The lack of time when it comes to visual arts has an impact not only on the creator, but also on the viewer. As for the spectator, do we still have enough time for contemplation exercises? What is the ideal time for the aesthetic experience?
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we delve into these questions and others more related to time and art.
Sources:
Nagel, Alexander & Wood, Christopher (2010): Anachronic Renaissance, New York: Zone Books.
Serafini, Paula & Banks, Mark (2020): Living Precarious Lives, Time and Temporality in Visual Arts Careers
