Editorial
SP-Arte Viewing Room
Ten photographic works at SP-Arte Viewing Room
SP–Arte
19 Aug 2020, 3:08 pm
Over 180 years have passed since the invention of the daguerreotype, the contraption considered the pioneer of the photographic image and the grandmother of all cameras that have followed since then. Despite the many experiments that were taking place at that time, using chemicals and light to make images that were faithful to reality, it was on the 19th August 1839 that Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre patented his creation, which was then commercialised and offered in France as “a gift to the free world”. The impact of this brand new language on ways of understanding and making art was gradual, provoking artists to reinvent themselves and seek more and more creative ways to use the tools and materials that were being modernised.
Yet, according to North American curator Barbara Tannembaum, it wasn’t until the 1970’s and 1980’s that the photographic language began to be incorporated by art institutions and collections as a major medium close to the status that painting and sculpture, for example, have in the visual arts. The strategies and ways of using the medium are inexhaustible, and the window for capturing the lights of the world has gained infinite uses – domestic, expressive, documentary, fiction…
So that this date, now officially World Photography Day, doesn’t pass unnoticed, we are exclusively presenting ten artistic works created through photography that will be available for sale at SP-Arte Viewing Room, the first digital version of SP-Arte, open to the public from 24th-30th August. In this highly digitalised, virtual time, we invite you to imagine with us the motivations and techniques behind these works. Take a look!
Above: Untitled (2020), from the series "Casa e jardim", Rochelle Costi. (Photo: Publicity/Galeria Anita Schwartz)
"As duas taças", Dulce G. Carneiro (Photo: Publicity)
Dulce G. Carneiro (Utópica)
Dulce G. Carneiro (Atibaia, 1929), who passed away two years ago, was a photographer and poet. Her work is still little recognised in the traditional annals of photography, despite her being one of the few women in the acclaimed Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante, particularly in the figurative strand of the group. She featured in the 9th edition of the São Paulo Biennial in 1967 and has works in the MASP collection.
"Ecolines" (1960-2020), Maureen Bisilliat (Photo: Publicity)
Maureen Bisilliat (Galeria Marcelo Guarnieri)
Raised in Brazil since the 1950’s, Maureen Bisilliat (Englefieldgreen, England, 1931) is a fundamental figure in the history of Brazilian photography. The artist was known for the extensive literary-photography projects she made throughout the country, where she presents visual universes based on classical works by authors such as Mário de Andrade, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Euclides da Cunha, and many more.
"Retratos" (1992-93), Vera Chaves Barcellos (Photo: Publicity)
Vera Chaves Barcellos (Galeria Superfície)
Artist Vera Chaves Barcellos (Porto Alegre, 1938) found a broader, interdisciplinary use for photography in the 1970’s, at a time when work of this type was a long way from circulating in art spaces. At the time, Chaves Barcellos was working with the artistic group Nervo Óptico, which experimented with less traditional mediums in art, such as performance, and engaged in a poetic form of resistance during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
"John Lennon & Yoko Ono at Savile Row" (1969), from the series "Honeymoon for Peace", Luiz Garrido (Photo: Publicity)
Luiz Garrido (Carcará Photo Art)
Luiz Garrido (Rio de Janeiro, 1945) is a photojournalist who was a correspondent at Manchete magazine in the effervescent Paris of 1968. The following year, he avidly documented John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s peace campaign against the Vietnam War, in cities including Berlin, Amsterdam and London. The images reveal the revolutionary atmosphere of the time, and the intimacy of one of the most iconic couples of the 20th Century.
“Ipês contra a Serra do Amolar” (2018), João Farkas (Photo: Publicity)
João Farkas (Documenta Pantanal)
The work of João Farkas (São Paulo, 1955) primarily investigates the identity of the Brazilian people and their relationship with the land they inhabit. Prompted by the transformations of the Pantanal, one of the richest and best preserved biomes in the world, but which is suffering from the impacts of climate change and actions by predatory humans, Farkas spent five years working in the region and was one of the founders of Documenta Pantanal.
Untitled (2020), from the series “Casa e jardim”, Rochelle Costi (Photo: Publicity)
Rochelle Costi (Anita Schwartz Galeria)
Multimedia artist Rochelle Costi (Caxias do Sul, 1961) is interested in the customs, habits, collections and tastes of people, and that exist in shared spaces. The series “Casa e jardim” was made between April and June this year, in social isolation. It depicts the space in a handbuilt wooden house acquired by the artist in Belém, with objects photographed inside it – those that can get through its tiny door.
“2005-510117385-5” (2008), Rosângela Rennó (Photo: Publicity)
Rosângela Rennó (Vermelho)
The work of Rosângela Rennó (Belo Horizonte, 1962), among those responsible for the growth of the photographic language in Brazil, deals with historical revision and exposing systems of power and forgetting. In the above work, the artist works with the captions and catalogue listings of images that were stolen from the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (National Library Foundation), then mutilated, and later recovered by the institution.
“Cassino V” (2019), Caio Reisewitz (Photo: Publicity)
Caio Reisewitz (Luciana Brito Galeria)
Caio Reisewitz (São Paulo, 1967) captures and transforms diverse interior and exterior landscapes, in constant dialogue with art history. In 2004, he exhibited at the 26th São Paulo Biennial and, in 2005, participated in the Brazilian Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennial, with photographs depicting baroque and contemporary Brazilian architecture.
Image taken from the book “Los Cerros” (2020), Elaine Pessoa (Photo: Publicity)
Elaine Pessoa (Fotô Editorial)
Elaine Pessoa’s (São Paulo, 1968) artistic production is driven by experimentation with grain, light, erasure and memory. Describing her work, Eder Chiodetto, curator of Fotô Editorial, has said, “The latency of form appears halfway between the visible and the nebulous. An atmosphere of the fantastic, adorned with the grey accumulation of the dust of time”.
“Scarpa #1” (2019), Mauro Restiffe (Photo: Publicity)
Mauro Restiffe (Fortes, D’Aloia e Gabriel)
Mauro Restiffe (São José do Rio Pardo, 1970) is one of today’s most prominent photographers. His highly narrative images, with a particular focus on architecture, intimacy and political processes, guide our eyes towards the contexts, surroundings and edges of what they frame, demonstrating how many stories can be told in one photograph.
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