RIODE JANEIRO

As far away and little understood as the Amazon, the Brazilian art scene has arrived in Southern California.

Exhibitions put on in Rio are among the world’s most attended and lines can stretch for hours as the hot Brazilian artists sell for millions abroad and hundreds of local galleries now converge at one of two new art fairs in Brazil. All of this is not only because of the artistic nature of the country, critics say, but generous government support for culture in a country which is now richer than ever.

Collaborating with Brazilian curator Maria Herminia Donato, the doors were opened for saltfineart to explore the depths of Rio’s talent. Traveling in person to Rio de Janeiro, saltfineart owner Carla Arzente and Donato explored extensively, not only visiting the homes and studios of Rio artists, but also the museums, galleries and cultural hot spots that make up this dynamic city.

The participating artists range from established to mid-career talents all with unique ways of approaching their craft. Inventive, precise, with an eye for meticulous detail, each convey a fascinating perspective on Brazilian life and culture.

Exhibition opens January 2, 2014 and closes February 28, 2014.

RIODE JANEIRO

Co-curated by Maria Herminia Donato

THE ARTISTS

Andrea BrownAndrea Brown is a multifaceted artist working across many mediums including sculpture, installation and painting. She chooses aspects of everyday life as her primary inspiration, arranging them and transforming their shape to create a personal form of communication through symbols reminiscent of hieroglyphs. Her skill as a sculptor informs her paintings with a sense of space and movement, making her “still life” anything but still. Her keen eye for composition and almost comedic timing create whimsical tableaus set against meticulously rendered patterns that evoke the Portuguese influence in Brazilian culture. The result is magical realism in its truest form.

Having exhibited throughout Brazil as well as in France, Spain and most recently Sweden, Andrea Brown is a well-established international talent. Already celebrated as an established sculptor, in 2009 Brown attended a residency at the Ecole Superieure des Beaux Art, Paris to learn painting and after her return to Rio joined the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage.

AUTUMN | acrylic on canvas | 31 x 44 inches

NORMA | acrylic on canvas | 39 x 36 inches

AVIOES | acrylic on paper | 37 x 24 inches

COMBAT | acrylic on paper | 37 x 24 inches

STILL LIFE | diptych, acrylic on canvas | 12 x 12 inches & 9.5 x 7.5 inches

NA SALA | quadriptych, acrylic on canvas | dimensions varied

Carolina PonteCarolina Ponte enjoys blurring the lines between drawing and sculpture, sometimes combining the two with large-scale installations comprised of detailed graphic drawings that transform into colorful crochet wall sculpture. She is particularly interested in breaking down the separation between lowbrow art & highbrow art by creating highly aesthetic, ornamental works that possess within them an element of chaos.

Ponte lives in Petropolis (Rio de Janeiro state). Graduated from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in engraving and also attended courses at Visual Arts School in Parque Lage Rio de Janeiro. She has exhibited throughout Brazil, Mexico and most recently in the Middle East.

UNTITLED | acrylic and ink on paper | 39 x 55 inches

Ivani PedrosaGraduating from the National School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1995) Ivani Pedrosa has since been working on elevating her work through the invention of unique art making techniques. Utilizing illusionary practices like light bending along with new technologies, she creates sculpture, installations and drawings that play with the idea of perception, self-image and control.

She began her career exhibiting her work at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, and then participated in prominent collective exhibitions, presented in the Office of Arts in Sao Paulo, and YEAR IV at Largo das Arts. Ivani Pedrosa was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lives and works.

DESENHO 86 | From the series “Controle” | graphite on rice paper | 23 x 16 x 3 inches

DESENHO 45From the series “Controle”graphite on paper21.5 x 18 inches

DESENHO 53From the series “Controle”graphite on paper17 x 13 inches

Leandro Pereira

The work of Leandro Pereira is both bold and meticulous. Created from large-scale photographs of dense urban Rio environments, the artist painstakingly takes away the windows with a blade, creating a delicate geometric skeleton that forms a kind of urban DNA for a city that encompasses both the ritzy Copacabana and also the largest favela in Brazil. The cutout then can be transformed in many ways through light and shadow to become a multidimensional work – placed against a wall to bring out a second city in the shadows or suspended to be viewed from all sides. He also installs his work outdoors, recording the incident which then becomes another striking image of a temporary state.

Pereira graduated in Industrial Design and Philosophy in Rio de Janiero and later took courses in art between 2005 and 2009, briefly living in the United States in 2006. In 2008 he joined the New World Atelier Charles Watson and participated in the International Dynamic Encounters – Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout Brazil as well as exhibitions in the United States and Spain.

ENTREMEIO #1digital C-print

32.5 x 44 inches

PALIMPSESTO #1digital C-print

32.5 x 44 inches

UNTITLED | hand-cut altered C-print | 12.75 x 18 inches

UNTITLEDhand-cut altered C-print 18 x 12.75 inches

UNTITLEDhand-cut altered C-print 18 x 12.75 inches

Marcelo JacomeMarcelo Jacome has always been inspired by the street – from his beginnings in graffiti and poster art to his evolution into popular religious traditions. His work is an interpretation of the immediate world surrounding him. Jacome creates through collages and installations that utilize objects dyed in vibrant colors like ribbon and tissue paper, reminiscent of the festivals that fuse European Catholicism with the indigenous practices. His work takes into consideration the purity of geometric form, the relations between lines and curves, places and voids, inside and outside, public and private, sacred and profane.

Jacome was born in Rio de Janeiro where he currently lives and works. In 2005 he graduated in architecture and urbanism at Universidade Santa Ursula. In 2009 he continued his education in the fine arts attending classes at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage with João Magalhães, Iole de Freitas, Luis Ernesto and Gloria Ferreira. He has exhibited at the prominent Saatchi Gallery in London as well as in Switzerland, Argentina and throughout Brazil.

TENSIONADOS #1 | taffeta ribbons on wood frame | 43 x 43 inches

TENSIONADOS #2taffeta ribbons on wood frame43 x 43 inches

TENSIONADOS #3taffeta ribbons on wood frame43 x 43 inches

Ni Da Costa

Ni da Costa’s work is intimate. Focusing on a specific moment, an angle, her work is the interpretation of a place in time, never just a reflection of it’s entirety. Her subjects are friends, family, neighborhoods - their deeply personal narratives create a sentiment that is universally accessible. She focuses on time and memory, working with painting and photography, particularly the illusion of moving images, overlays and use of sequences to create a single dynamic composition. She applies the paint in pools which dry to create the look of enamel or metal. She created this particular way of painting as a nod to early processes of photography and printmaking like silver-plate and the daguerreotype.

Ni da Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro. In 1989 she graduated in printmaking from the Escola de Belas Artes Da UFRJ (School of Fine Arts). She now exhibits extensively throughout Brazil.

ERASED | metallic paint on re-purposed canvas | 22.5 X 29.5 inches

CRISTINAacrylic on board11.75 x 11.75 inches

MARTHAacrylic on board11.75 x 11.75 inches

Pedro Varela

Pedro Varela likes to imagine that the painting is a novel and his role as the artist is to unfold the narrative through design. His creations are closely tied to literature, as if waiting for a text by Borges to accompany them. He purposefully reserves large blank spaces on the paper, tying them directly to illustration or the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. His still lifes draw from the language fairytale and adventure, like a mirage seen from afar by a character of A Thousand and One Nights or an enchanted castle/forest in the clouds. Varela’s sense of narrative whimsy invites the viewer to interact with his works by means of their own imagination.

Pedro Varela graduated in printmaking at the School of Fine Arts of UFRJ in 2005 and since then has established an renowned international career with exhibitions in Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Portugal, England, France, Sweden, Qatar and throughout the United States.

UNTITLED | acrylic on canvas| 36 x 57 inches, each panel, diptych

Renato Bezerra De MelloRenato Bezerra de Mello carries out his work within a world of copies and reproductions, making up something he calls a “universe of memories or a memory universe.” Born in Recife (North East Brazil) Bezerra de Mello studied Architecture and History of Art before attending the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro. By 2000 he had stopped practicing as an architect and begun to work full time as an artist. This coincided with a move to France where he attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. Now based in Rio de Janeiro, his visual arts practice extends to educational and community arts projects notably the stage sets for the critically acclaimed productions of ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘The Lindberg Flight’ for the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre and the Winter Festival at Campos de Jordão, São Paulo.

TO SEE WHAT IS LEFT| graphite on paper, bound in a handmade book |10 x 8 inches closed, 8 feet open

MAPAS DO ACASO / MAPS OF CHANCE | ink on paper | 14 x 17 inches

FEELING BLUE| ink on paper | 12 x 9 inches

AND THESE PAGES SHALL TELL YOU A SECRET | ballpoint pen on graph paper | 12 x 9 inches