Technikart. US ll 022Artists & Opus

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With the infecttous energy of an impromptu samba,BraziLian artists are steaLing the scene ln coLLect ons,galLeries, and public works alL over the worLd Street art by

Os G0meos, or "The Twtns" in EngLish, has appeared both

legaLly and lLegaLLy on the streets of CheLsea in Manhattan

and outside ihe Tate Modern in London. Even the rotunda of

Paris's Pantheon received a temporary Brazllian makeoverin the form of Ernesto Neto's "biomorphlc" instaILatlon,

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A ptate of feijoada, a Brazitian beef and bean dish, rests on a bikini - wearing woman's burnished

[egs. FLakes of farofa, or toasted manioc-corn fLour, settl.e over the dish and dust her thighs,

[ik1 snow, as forks jut out of the food. The photograph, from the Ramos series, is by JuLio

Bittencourt, one of the rising stars of contemporary BraziLian photography and just one

of the many BraziLian talents on the internationaL art scene today.

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Leviathon Thot, hanging from the ceiLing Like an aLienegg-sack. Demand for the new, onginaL, and diverse hasseen unprecedented support for these and other BraziLianworks in scuLpture, painting, graffiti, and photography.

The contemporary art scenes in Sao PauLo and Rio areexperiencing exponentiaL growth at the same time as thecountry's commodities market is helping to transform BraziLinto one of the worLd's l'arqest economies. 0f course, not alLemerging markets are hotbeds for art colLection, but BraziLhas some of the major components necessary: maturty,infrastructure, and momentum. The history of art in thecountry is well-estabLished, with both public and privateseciors supporting the arts. After corporate tax breakswere introduced in the 1990s BraziLian companies havebeen reimbursed up to 100% for their culturaL investments.Companies [rke Banco do BrasiL, Santander, and CaixaEconomica Federal have set up art centers throughoutBraziL, funding new work.lncreased sociaL awareness and government-sponsoredinitiatives to aid the poor have aLso opened doors for art.Bittencourt s sociaLLy-charged work has helped hrm tobecome one of the country s most important and accLaimedphotographers. He has exhibited in over a dozen countnesin the past five years aLone. His best-regarded work todate is a coLLection of composite photos from a three-yearprolect that focused on the stories of squatter-resrdenis ina run down S5o PauLo buiLding, pubLished in his first book,

ln a window of Prestes Maia 911 BuiLding. The work consistsof a series of individualimages that are themselves madeup of composites layered in a technique known as HDR, or"high dynamic range". The resuLting photographs reveaL a

startLrng tonal range and an almost surreaL, extraterrestriaLgLow, highlighting the contrast between the peop[e's bright,coLorfuLLlves and their drab, squaLid surroundings.These contrasis, integral to the story of urban BraziL, arekeys to understanding Bittencourt's work. Hrs success aLsohas to do with hrs understanding of the thr ving scene inart-motivated BraziL. He notes that "creativrty, flexrbiLrty,and so much diversity have always pLayed an importantroLe in the Life ol Brazi[ian society and can explarn muchof where it aLl comes from, but the economy over the pastdecade has definitely pushed it to a different LeveL "

A[ex Bueno de Moraes and Andrew Klug, cofounders of 1 500

GaLLery, a newish venue in NY's West CheLsea neighborhood,are Looking to brng Bittencourt and other BrazrLianphotographers to the attention of collectors in American andinternationaL markets. SpeciaLizing in Brazilran photography,the gaLLery represents seveTaL of the best-known namesin Brazil, both emergrng and estabLished. The owners,responding to a hot, hip market, have observed that investorsln Sio Paulo and Rro are Leaning heavrLy on natrve artists,and thus are spending srgnificani sums of money on namesthat most in the New York market have never heard ofKLug recalls 'I recent[y contacted the departments ofphotography ai the major auction houses here in New York,

Lookrng for cons gnments by Mario Crevo Neto and MiguelRio Branco. OnLy one of the people spoke to had heardof one of these two names, while pieces by MrgueL RroBranco aTe current[y seLling rn Brazilfor over $50 000 '

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Ramos is a series of color photographs taken atan artificial saLt-water lake located amidst favelas,or shantytowns, in Rio de Janeiro. The area aroundPiscinSo de Ramos is noisy and polLuted. Bittencourt'sphotographs show people in an ethereal light, exposingdark-tinted, richly-polished bodies and limbs. A womanslathered in foam sunscreen sits in a chair, Christ theRedeemer on a towel at her feet. A man sits on a bench,a blue rope of a shirt traiLing down his back to thongcleavage. The surfaces are pearly, the subjects bizarrein their contrasting tones: sexy, comicaL, grotesque,and serene. The photography captures the human asit is, Brazilian or otherwise: reaL, unabashed, and ripewith b u rgeo n i n g e ne rgy.

Current exhibition:Hirosuke Kitamura: Hidra

Curated by Miguet Rio BrancoFeburary 1 - Aprit 28,2012

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