Brazilian art outside Brazil
The interest in Brazilian
art has been growing all around the world.
Brazilian art is no longer limited to its own country – at the beginning
of this century there was lots of attention directed toward this beautiful
country. In 2001, Gasworks, a United
Kingdom art collective, in association with Colchester presented Gambiarra - New Art from Brazil, which will
included the first UK presentation of Brazilian artists Ducha, Marepe, Jarbas
Lopes, Efrain Almeida as well curatorial collective Capacete Entertainments.
All of the artists and curators
included in Gambiarra drew on the languages of contemporary popular culture of Brazil
as sources of inspiration and used their practices to comment on the political
and social aspects of a country which has weighty economic contradictions and a
population that is one of the most ethnically diversified in the world.
Working in a wide range of
media, the artists and curators included in Gambiarra presentations were true
representatives of a younger generation of practitioners whose work possessed
the same creativity, prosperity and multiplicity that people have come to
associate with visual art from Europe, combined with a more explicit and
overtly political voice.
Gambiarra presentation -- or
making do when translated from Brazilian Portuguese -- was a reflection
of a common strategy engaged by all of the artists drawn in, who not only see
this as a probable tactic for creating works, but also, and more importantly,
it was seen as a powerful and positive metaphor for their reflections on the
state of cultural institutions and the density of their position as part of and
in relation to those institutions.
The conscious decision by the
artists and curators in Gambiarra exhibition to use short-term solutions,
low-tech materials and to make do with what was to hand rarely had
direct reference to their own situations.
It was also variously referring to the large number of severe injustices
that have become part of the fabric of Brazilian society, inherently influencing
the country’s values.
Including works from private
and public collections from Latin America, the USA and Europe, as well as newly
commissioned pieces, the exhibition also included two three month residencies
for Ducha, and Jarbas Lopes who were invited to make a series of off-site
interventions in response to the different exhibition locations. During his
residency, Jarbas Lopes workedwith The London Printworks Trust, Brixton to
create a public artwork made in collaboration with ten young people who live in
South London.
During his stay in England, in 2003, Jarbas
Lopes – probably one of the best
representative of Brazilian artists that is able to capture and pass on the
Brazilian artistic spirit so well -- held workshops at Gasworks and at the
London Printworks Trust. Since his work was strongly involved in social and
communal visual culture, his residency provided a perfect opportunity for the
outreach project.
The most famous project was: what is a
landmark for you? Jarbas spent the first day in discussion with theartist group,
after giving a short slide show of his work so far in Brazil. They spent time
discussing their goals and Jarbas introduced the idea that a landmark could be
defined in many ways other than traditional tourist symbols. The artist group decided to base the project
around this idea.
Each participant took a disposable camera
and went out to photograph anything that they felt was a landmark, whether
personal or institutional. There was another session when the group got
together for a picnic, in order to create a strong group atmosphere and begin a
theme of relationships as landmarks. Their presence and the activities in the
park contributed to this understanding of public art; it was a realization of
their emphasis on people actively occupying public spaces, establishing bonds
and using local resources to create landmarks and communities.
Other sessions with Jarbas had the
participants making drawings, collages and designs based on all their
experiences and photographs, leading to their work at the London Printworks
Trust. During these sessions all
participants were taught how to print on T-shirts, learning a variety of
techniques and styles.
Throughout these sessions Jarbas discussed
the view that everybody is a monument since everybody carries a combined
personal and public history – metaphorically or othwerwise. For example, the T-shirts were made for the
event of a mass distribution on the streets of Brixton. When people walked around in their new
T-shirts, the visual effect of the bright colours and striking designs conveyed
a sense of unity and individuality at the same time.
The event stirred a lot of curiosity in the
UK, and many critics commented on the importance of projects such as this,
which attempt to replace the apparent anonymity of the city with a sense of
community.
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