From July 23 to August 17, Galeria Vermelho is presenting the solo shows Contratempo by Lia Chaia [halls 1 and 2], and João‐ninguem by Rafael Assef [hall 3]. With these openings the gallery, inaugurated in 2002, has hit the 100th exhibition milestone. Also on July 23, Tijuana – a project dedicated to the creation, release and commercialization of artist’s books, publications and multiples – is inaugurating its new exhibition space. Installed in the gallery’s patio, the new project combines a newspaper stand with the exhibition space, reaffirming the innovative character of the project created in 2008 by Vermelho. Contratempo Lia Chaia Contratempo [Setback] presents a series of new works created from 2011 onward, which are unfolded in drawings, photographs, sculptures, videos and installations. Made initially as distinct works, they nevertheless weave among themselves a unique discourse that reaffirms the question of the conflict between nature and civilization, a recurring theme in the artist’s oeuvre. The body arises once again as an element for the questioning of everyday imperatives. Vulnerable to the multiple indications of direction, Contratempo reveals the repressed individual in search of escape. This idea appears in the installation Curva de Jardim [Garden Curve], 2013, created by Chaia for Vermelho’s façade, and which reappears miniaturized in the gallery’s Hall 2. Created with modules of bent iron, mounted side‐by‐side to form a fence, Curva de Jardim restricts the mobility of the visitors, therefore determining their movements and their understanding of the exhibition as a whole. Similar content appears in Lança [Spear], 2013. Installed in the gallery’s entrance hall, the collage reproduces iron gratings in the form of sharp spears. Chaia uses the original design of these objects, normally used in houses and buildings as a form of protection against not‐
always‐welcome presences, as a way of questioning their effectiveness. Alambrado [Wire Fence], 2011–2013, uses mesh fencing likewise used to protect properties, though here the wire mesh and the hardness of the metal are transformed into a malleable network. Thus, the function of the protective fence – to exclude – is brought into question. Chaia’s keen perception of the chaotic urban scene reemerges in Escrita [Writing], 2013. This installation, composed of electrical wires manipulated by the artist, recalls the typical graffiti “tagging” seen on walls in the city of São Paulo. Electrical wires reappear in the series of photographs Fiação [Wiring], 2012–2013. Above these photographic images that recall the tangle of wires often seen on electrical power poles in the city of São Paulo, Chaia presents images of a gray sky, scratched with a printmaker’s drypoint and cut by electrical wires. This series has a gloomy light and emphasizes the emptiness and fragility of the urban scenario. In the works Folha‐leito [Leaf‐Bed] and A queda [The Fall], 2013, photography is used as a documental instrument, creating a commentary on the passage of time that points to the fleetingness of the human and the organic. In Quadrada, 2013, green leaves lose their organic outlines, acquiring right angles, indicating the innate versatility of every organism to adapt itself to the logic of living together with its environment. The solo show is capped off with the video Aleph, 2013. Recorded in one of the various barren regions in the city of São Paulo, the video overlays the downtown to the city’s periphery, as it appears in a small glass sphere that slides on a woman’s arm. In her artistic practice, Lia Chaia operates with paradoxes, blending poetic power with a tragic view of the world. Constantly re‐articulating her themes and prioritizing new researches involving language, Lia Chaia offers a critical and simultaneously political look at current circumstances. João‐ninguem Rafael Assef Rafael Assef has distinguished himself in the current art scene by his works that reflect the limits of the body, by means of the recording of interventions experienced on his own skin or on that of volunteers, which reveal paths, marks and personal marks. In the solo show João‐ninguem [John Nobody], Rafael Assef presents elements of his most recent research. All together, the works featured in the exhibition seem to suggest that Assef’s interest has ceased to reveal the particular, the individual, as in previous series such as Amigos Azuis [Blue Friends] 1998, or Cartografia [Cartography] 2004, to now portray more universal questions that talk about things individuals share in common. Nevertheless, the tattoo, an instrument used by Assef to underscore particularities, reappears in the polyptych Quadrados na Cor da Pele [Squares in the Color of Skin]. To create this work, the artist invited nine people to tattoo various parts of their bodies with squares filled with ink similar to the color of their skin. Later, Assef photographed the nine tattoos. Nearly invisible and presented side‐by‐side, the images of these tattoos no longer point to what in previous works distinguished the individual. Rather, they reveal what each individual shares in common with others. The same characteristic can be perceived in the series Branding (os Nomes de Artistas, Nomes de Moda e Nomes de Hashi) [Branding (Names of Artists, Names of Fashion, and Names of Hashi)], 2013. The three sets weave commentaries about collective choices, about specificities of determined groups. Although lacking human presence, the new series reaffirms Assef’s interest in the questions of the representation of the body, particularly in relation to the use of photography. Lia Chaia: selected solo shows – Anônimo, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil [2010]; Rodopio, Centro Cultural Mariantonia, São Paulo, Brazil [2009]; Pelos Tubos, Ateliê Aberto, Campinas, Brazil [2007]; Entre Vias, Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea dell'Università di Roma, Roma, Italy [2006]; Experiências com o Corpo, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil [2002]. Selected group shows ‐ Circuitos Cruzados: o Centre Pompidou encontra o MAM, Museu de Arte Moderna [MAM SP], São Paulo, Brazil [2013]; 11ª Bienal de la Habana: Praticas Artisticas e Imaginários Sociales, Havana, Cuba [2012]; Os Primeiros Dez Anos, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil [2011]; Rhodislândia, Hélio Oiticica ‐ Museu é o Mundo, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil [2010]; Brazil Contemporary, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands [2009]; GLOW ‐ Fórum of Light in Art and Architecture, Eindhover, The Netherlands [2008]. Lia Chaia: seleção de exposições individuais ‐ Jogo de Dados, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil [2008]; Do Corpo à Paisagem, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil [2006]; 2 Gritos, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil [2005]; Coleção Itaú de Fotografia Brasileira, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil [2013]. Seleção de exposições coletivas ‐ Eloge du vertige: photographies de la Collection Itaú,Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France [2012]; Jogos de Guerra, Caixa Cultural RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [2011]; Atenção: Estratégias Para Perceber a Arte, Museu de Arte Moderna [MAM SP], São Paulo, Brazil [2011]; MAM (NA) OCA, OCA, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil [2006]. EXHIBITIONS: “Contratempo” Lia Chaia [halls 1 and 2], “João‐ninguem” Rafael Assef [hall 3]. OPENING: July 23, 20h. PERIOD:: July 24 – Aug 17, 2013. LOCAL:: Vermelho TIME:: Tue to Fri from 10am to 7pm, Sat from 11am to 5pm. ADDRESS:: Rua Minas Gerais, 350 / 01244010 – São Paulo – SP – tel.: 11 3138 1520 www.galeriavermelho.com.br / [email protected]