Two exhibitions
dal 2/4/2009 al 20/6/2009
Segnalato da
2/4/2009
Two exhibitions
Fondation Cartier, Paris
Beatriz Milhazes. Intricately layered with a profusion of ornamental motifs, her vibrant and hypnotic paintings refer to sources as diverse as the Colonial baroque, high modernism, and popular Brazilian art. For her exhibition the artist presents a focused selection of large format acrylic paintings, chosen from her work of the past decade, as well as a monumental collage. For the last three years, American photographer William Eggleston has photographed the city of Paris throughout different seasons. This exhibition brings together his distinctive pictures and his recent paintings.
Beatriz Milhazes
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is pleased to present an exhibition of the work of Beatriz Milhazes,
one of the most celebrated Brazilian
visual artists today. Offering an overview of her work of the past decade, the
exhibition will include a selection of
large-format acrylic paintings as well as
a remarkable new collage that she has
created specifically for the show. The
Fondation Cartier has also commissioned the artist to produce a special
architectural installation for the exhibition. Using a technique closely related
to collage, she will apply motifs made of
translucent adhesive vinyl directly onto
the glass walls of the Fondation Cartier,
creating an effect that is evocative of
stained-glass. Reflecting her interest
both in natural forms and rigorous geometry, this striking installation will
enter into a powerful visual dialogue
with the architecture of Jean Nouvel
and the surrounding garden.
Brazilian Heritage
The work of Beatriz Milhazes occupies a
unique position between Latin American
and Western traditions. It is thus not surprising that she showed an early interest in the
work of Brazilian writer and poet, Oswald
de Andrade (1890–1954) and that of his wellknown companion, the painter Tarsila do
Amaral (1886–1973). Andrade’s Manifesto
Antropofago (1928) called upon Brazilian
artists to develop their own unique culture
by “devouring” European styles and melding
them with elements derived from local culture. Tarsila do Amaral’s painting expressed
this philosophy, combining the bright colors
and tropical imagery of Brazil with the surrealism she discovered in Europe. Inspired
by her predecessors, Beatriz Milhazes embraces a dizzying kaleidoscope of influences,
following an approach that she describes as
“culture eating culture.” Her canvases have
an undeniably Brazilian flavor, filled with
an abundance of brightly colored, highly
decorative motifs. Much of the artist’s
inspiration comes from the high and low
art present in her native country, including sources as varied as ceramics, lacework,
jewelry design, carnival decoration, and
Colonial baroque architecture. The delicate
arabesques of tropical flowers and leaves
have also found their way into her painting,
revealing the artist’s fascination for luxurious vegetation. Other references for these
works, which revisit the traditional genres
of landscape and still-life, range from the
contemplative works of Albert Eckhout—a
17th century Dutch painter who recorded
the plants and animals of Brazil—to the
modernist landscape designs of Roberto
Burle Marx, known for his design of Copacabana beach promenade in 1970.
European Modernism
The paintings of Beatriz Milhazes express
many of the formal preoccupations inherent in the history of abstract painting, from
the vibrant color of Matisse to the rigorous
structural composition of Mondrian. The
underlying square fields of color that serve
as the background for many of her works
and the overlaying motifs, call to mind the
work of early modernist abstract artists
such as Kupka, Klee, and Léger. The artist
has stated: “I am seeking geometrical structures, but with freedom of form and imagery taken from different worlds.1” Classical
music, particularly the opera, as well as popular music such as bossa nova or tropicalia,
motivate the “choreographed spontaneity” of
the artist’s compositions. Stripes, rays, lines followed the more austere conceptualist
and circular forms evoke a synchronized
rhythm while the dynamics of color articulate harmony and dissonance. This clearly relates Milhazes compositions to those of
other 20th century masters who have explored the relationship between music and art, such
as Kandinsky and Delaunay. The use of intensely vibrant colors, such as fuchsia, gold or orange, endows her canvases with an explosive energy that many have compared to the breathtaking rhythm of fireworks.
Artistic Technique
To create this elaborate network of forms,
Milhazes has developed a technique that
is closely related to monotype and collage. The artist first paints the motifs and
drawings of her work on translucent plastic
sheets. She then applies them to the canvas
and peels the plastic off, superimposing
images and colors in a variety of combinations. During the transfer process, part of the
motif sometimes tears, leaving portions of
itself behind. These accidents create interesting surfaces marred by subtle imperfections. The slow and laborious process leads
to rich palimpsests of overlaid images, some
fully present, some masked, some only
ghostly silhouettes.
During the past several years, the artistic
production of Beatriz Milhazes has continued to expand, recently branching out
into arenas such as, theatre sets, site-specific installations, and design work, including
fabric and tapestry. She has also created two artist’s books, one in conjunction with the MoMA and one with the Thomas Dane
Gallery, London, which explore the realms
of printmaking and collage. Through her
diversity of practice and multiplicity of
sources, Beatriz Milhazes erases all distinctions between the high and the low, the national and the international, the classical
and the contemporary, leaving her free
to explore the entire realm of visual expression.
Beatriz Milhazes
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1960, Beatriz
Milhazes entered Rio’s renowned Escola
de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in the
early 1980s. She emerged on the Brazilian
art scene in the midst of what was known
as “the return to painting” of the Geraçao
Oitenta (the 1980s Generation), which
followed the more austere conceptualist
art that dominated the country in the
1970s.
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William Eggleston
Paris
For the last three years, American photographer William Eggleston has photographed the city of Paris as part of a
commission for the Fondation Cartier
pour l’art contemporain. Taken throughout different seasons, these new images
by one of the fathers of color photography portray the local and the cosmopolitan, the glamorous and the gritty, the
everyday and the extraordinary. This
exhibition also provides an exceptional occasion to bring together William
Eggleston’s distinctive pictures and his
recent paintings, an unknown aspect
of his work that has never before been
presented to the public. The Paris series
of photographs forms the Fondation
Cartier’s third commission to William
Eggleston, following the Deserts (2000)
and the Kyoto (2001) series. After his very
first retrospective in 2001, this exhibition marks his second solo show at the
Fondation, reflecting its commitment to
artists over time.
Nomadic Nights
On the occasion of the exhibitions William
Eggleston and Beatriz Milhazes, Nomadic
the
Nights are putting on a special program of
performances and concerts.
Image: Dancing, 2007. Acrylic on canvas. Photo: Fausto Fleury.
Press Information
Linda Chenit assisted by Anne-Sophie Gola
Tel +33 (0)1 42185677/65 Fax +33 (0)1 42185652 linda.chenit@fondation.cartier.com
Press opening on Friday, April 3
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
261, boulevard Raspail F- 75014 Paris