Editorial
Report
Painting in the current Brazilian art circuit
Yan Catuaba
31 Oct 2024, 2:22 pm
Someone is always lurking, ready to proclaim the death of painting. Throughout its historical trajectory, marked by ups and downs, painting has served different purposes, experimenting with all sorts of supports and modes of execution. Today, in Brazil, it has become increasingly common to learn about the emergence of a new painter, especially among younger artists in the scene. Galleries and museums have more frequently dedicated part of their programming to exhibitions featuring traditional pictorial genres, such as portraiture, landscape, and still life. In addition to a renewed recurrence of figuration, the current environment suggests a very particular moment for painting in the country.
But what exactly is the situation that painting is undergoing in the Brazilian art circuit, and how can it be defined? Is there a painting boom underway in Brazil? What explains the strong interest among young artists in a so-called traditional technique? From these and other inquiries, SP–Arte invited researchers Felipe Martinez and Mirtes Marins de Oliveira, along with artists Ana Elisa Egreja (Millan), O Bastardo (A Gentil Carioca), and Paulo Pasta (Millan) to share their thoughts on the subject.
Above: Detail of Paulo Pasta, Untitled, 2023. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
Paulo Pasta, Untitled, 2023. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
Painting and the Market
It was in the early 19th century, with the popularization of daguerreotypes, that painting faced its first major threat. This new way of producing images, which anticipated what we would come to know as photography, stripped the practice of painting of some of the precepts and codes that had defined it for centuries, such as formal rigor and the commitment to a realistic representation of the world—basic requirements of the academic painting style that dominated European artistic circles during the modern era.
In response, painting turned inward, reflecting on its own grammar, and demonstrated, through modernist avant-gardes, what made it unique among artistic techniques. Through this process, painting postponed its demise and revitalized itself, showcasing a reputation that would be hyperbolized by the controversial Clement Greenberg (1904-1994), a well-known American art critic, who argued that modernist painting, especially abstract painting, represented the purest and most advanced form of art.
However, it is not only among the purveyors of erudition and criticism that painting enjoys a position of nobility compared to other artistic expressions. Popular opinion aligns with this view, often identifying painting as synonymous with art. “Painting is the old lady. When we think of art, we think of painting”, says Paulo Pasta, one of the leading figures in contemporary Brazilian painting, whose intimacy with colors, forms, light, and textures allows him to create canvases that suspend notions of time to captivate the gaze of his observers. Professor and researcher Mirtes Marins de Oliveira is also emphatic: “The non-specialist public looks at it and says, ‘This is art, there’s no doubt’. People develop a taste for painting and know how to articulate that taste”, reinforcing the rapid assimilation of pictorial products into conceptions of art.
Understanding this notion of painting as a defining element of the artistic field is the first step in investigating the appreciation for this technique over the centuries and, especially, in the current Brazilian context. However, market factors also help explain this phenomenon. In this regard, Felipe Martinez, a professor and researcher, notes: “When we talk about painting, we refer to a commodity that is very well established. It was with landscape painting that art integrated into the financial system during the 19th century”. The small size of the canvases, the ease of transportation, the uncomplicated access to what is represented, along with the taste spread among the upper social strata, especially in industrial urban centers, would justify this predisposition to commoditization. “Painting retains this commodity character”, Martinez adds.
Paulo Pasta, Untitled, 2023. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
The ebb and flow of painting in Brazil
But it was not only economic dynamics that brought pictorial technique to the level it is at today. It was in numerous studios and through the strokes of many brushes that painting managed to endure and regenerate. At the turn of the millennium, this practice was once again questioned and set aside. “I did not show my realistic work in college. The moment was different. It was the time for performance, and photography was also very strong. There was little room for painting“, recounts Ana Elisa Egreja, an artist who ventures into a figurative style she calls “magical realism“, in which she combines elements of literature with a painting style that resonates with the Dutch masters of the 17th century.
Ana Elisa Egreja, "Natureza morta com bromélia rosa", 2015. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
Ana Elisa Egreja, "Cozinha Pennacchi", 2021. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
Egreja was one of the members of the so-called group 2000e8, a collective of eight young painters formed around Paulo Pasta with the aim of defending painting and exploring its possibilities. The group’s objectives, eccentric for the context, led them to pose for the cover of Caderno 2, a cultural supplement of one of the leading newspapers of the time, under the moniker ‘Geração Tinta Fresca’ (Fresh Paint Generation). These artists, to some extent heirs to the impact made by the Generation 80, may not have realized the path they were paving with their canvases, but it was with them that painting found a new direction in the country: “There was already a worldwide climate of recovering painting, and at that moment, we brought this topic to life in São Paulo”, recalls Ana Elisa Egreja.
Cover of "Caderno 2", O Estado de São Paulo, published on April 16, 2008.
Gradually, layers of a new social context were added to the artistic landscape established by the group. The years that followed, for example, were marked by a true transformation in communication methods and the ways of making art and politics. With the consolidation of what is known as Web 2.0, discussions that were previously confined to academic circles took over digital forums, bringing public debate to issues such as social problems arising from colonialism and the exclusionary stance toward bodies that deviate from norms of gender and sexuality, in addition to highlighting the environmental crisis that has been affecting the globe. Painting, resilient and renewed, then proved to be an effective medium for addressing these and other concerns. “Contemporary pictorial production seems to abandon that formal and technical obsession typical of modernism in favor of its content, although terms like ‘perspective’, ‘glazing’, and ‘craftsmanship’ still remain important”, reflects Mirtes Marins. Felipe Martinez expresses a similar view when assessing the practice of many contemporary painters: “Although there are still artists concerned with pictorial terms, for many, painting is a means to discuss something else, an efficient way to address certain issues”.
Ana Elisa Egreja, "Escada de caquinhos e onças pintadas", 2023. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Filipe Berndt/courtesy of Millan)
These two interpretations well capture one of the characteristics of the painting produced today in Brazil. Due to the influence of different generations and the resulting ebb and flow, contemporary national painting seems to have followed two main paths: on one hand, in line with modernist principles, there is a certain continuity concerning a practice still focused on the specificities of pictorial production. With this group of artists, there is a persistence in advocating for painting based on its own elements. On the other hand, the second path, which comes across as a novelty, uses painting more as a political tool for transforming the collective imagination in the face of issues that require concrete social actions, rather than as a means to reinforce technical sovereignty, while still acknowledging the extensive history of its language.
O Bastardo, "Oxalufã", 2024. Oil paint and oil pastel on linen. (Photo: courtesy of A Gentil Carioca)
Among the numerous voices representing this pictorial practice, O Bastardo, a Fluminense artist dedicated to portraiture—one of the fundamental genres of painting—demonstrates the potential of this technique in addressing contemporary topics, also justifying the “contemporary” label used to define his work in a practice often confused with tradition. “I am completely averse to the classical school and its shadow over current painting. Contemporary art exists to make an impact, and it needs to occur in a state of freedom, an independence from tradition”, stated the artist, who gives prominence to historically marginalized groups, restoring their sense of nobility through portraiture. His statement reinforces the perspective of many current painters, for whom commitment to the present and its transformation takes precedence over the already well-discussed technical issues. “The medium doesn’t matter; today’s canvas should be the same as that used by Leonardo da Vinci, but what painting says, represents, and how it touches people is what is relevant—it’s what makes it contemporary”, observes Ana Elisa Egreja.
O Bastardo, "Conceição Evaristo", 2023. Acrylic on linen. (Photo: courtesy of A Gentil Carioca)
O Bastardo, "The Ballerinas", 2024. Oil on linen. (Photo: courtesy of A Gentil Carioca)
The five are unanimous in their assessment: painting is experiencing a moment of comfort in the current Brazilian artistic scene, proving to be a fertile ground capable of fulfilling the social purposes of art. “Even though it is not the exclusive focus of current production, it is undoubtedly a protagonist. Institutional and market demands confirm this”, concludes O Bastardo. In agreement, they also evaluated the challenges and possible new threats to this form of artistic expression, such as those posed by emerging mechanisms for producing and reproducing images represented by AIs and social media. “Rest assured that painting can withstand these blows, resists, and takes advantage of them, making these themes and topics of work. This proves that there is no progress in art; a new language does not make another obsolete”, argues Paulo Pasta. O Bastardo also does not hesitate to declare the vitality of his technique in the face of these pronouncements and intimidations: “I believe this only contributes to demonstrating the values of painting as a particular and unique practice. It doesn’t matter how many times they try to kill it; here in the studio, painting remains alive”.
Yan Catuaba
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