In the Acaso series, Edgard de Souza’s forms are ambiguous and fragmented, with traces of corporeality, desire, sexuality and eroticism. The pieces form Acaso are produced in the bronze casting studio, articulating parts of other sculptures by the artist.

Rabiscos” record movements by Edgard de Souza. They are drawings made during simple challenges: drawing while dancing, while talking on the phone, using two hands at the same time, using the pen until it runs out of ink, being symmetric, avoiding symmetry. Each of these tasks gives rise to a graphically or materially different drawing that is imposed on the paper in a different way. They are nevertheless struggles and analyses of his body, which seems to be present in each of them. Sometimes, the effort expended in the application of the body on the paper is so great that the pigmentation of the ink blends with the grooves made by the repetitive movement and winds up composing surfaces with skin like characteristics.

Edgard de Souza clearly evidences his virtuosity in the construction of sculptures, such as the works “Autofagia II” [Autophagia II], 2015, which involves a mirrored figure, a constant in his oeuvre, and “Acaso (hélice)” [Random (Helix)] and ‘Acaso (Saci)” [Random (Saci)], both from 2015, where the act of eating one’s own flesh (as indicated by the title of the aforementioned sculpture, “Autofagia”) appears amplified. “Autofagia II” is the largest and most intricate bronze sculpture ever produced by the artist. The two bodies that intercross each other are no longer symmetric; they seem to be engaged in a struggle where only one will survive, in an amalgam between. lasciviousness and fighting.

Edgard de Souza clearly evidences his virtuosity in the construction of sculptures, such as the works “Autofagia II” [Autophagia II], 2015, which involves a mirrored figure, a constant in his oeuvre, and “Acaso (hélice)” [Random (Helix)] and ‘Acaso (Saci)” [Random (Saci)], both from 2015, where the act of eating one’s own flesh (as indicated by the title of the aforementioned sculpture, “Autofagia”) appears amplified.

“Rabiscos” record movements by Edgard de Souza. They are drawings made during simple challenges: drawing while dancing, while talking on the phone, using two hands at the same time, using the pen until it runs out of ink, being symmetric, avoiding symmetry. Each of these tasks gives rise to a graphically or materially different drawing that is imposed on the paper in a different way. They are nevertheless struggles and analyses of his body, which seems to be present in each of them. Sometimes, the effort expended in the application of the body on the paper is so great that the pigmentation of the ink blends with the grooves made by the repetitive movement and winds up composing surfaces with skin like characteristics.

In the “Conforto” [Comfort] series, produced between 2013 and 2015, Edgard displaces cushions that seem to have come from chairs and which should offer a sense of coziness and well-being to the sculpture. Besides having their positions displaced, the cushions have been deformed to resemble something halfway between safe, protective seashells and stark, disarranged shapes. Edgard de Souza’s comfort seems to lie in this terrain between absolutely controlled virtuosity and the lack of control that moves his production forward.

In Restauro [Restoration], 2015, the artist restores an
old and torn floorcloth, sewing it by hand, giving life
to a dead object. The movement is opposite to that of the Rabiscos: returning the cloth to its original form, though steeped in the artist’s constructive skill.

“Rabiscos” record movements by Edgard de Souza. They are drawings made during simple challenges: drawing while dancing, while talking on the phone, using two hands at the same time, using the pen until it runs out of ink, being symmetric, avoiding symmetry. Each of these tasks gives rise to a graphically or materially different drawing that is imposed on the paper in a different way. They are nevertheless struggles and analyses of his body, which seems to be present in each of them. Sometimes, the effort expended in the application of the body on the paper is so great that the pigmentation of the ink blends with the grooves made by the repetitive movement and winds up composing surfaces with skin like characteristics.

“Rabiscos” record movements by Edgard de Souza. They are drawings made during simple challenges: drawing while dancing, while talking on the phone, using two hands at the same time, using the pen until it runs out of ink, being symmetric, avoiding symmetry. Each of these tasks gives rise to a graphically or materially different drawing that is imposed on the paper in a different way. They are nevertheless struggles and analyses of his body, which seems to be present in each of them. Sometimes, the effort expended in the application of the body on the paper is so great that the pigmentation of the ink blends with the grooves made by the repetitive movement and winds up composing surfaces with skin like characteristics.

Na obra de Nelson Leirner tudo volta, mas renovado, digerido: devidamente traduzido. Leitor dos outros e de si próprio, Nelson retorna sempre a obras canônicas, da história da arte ou mais contemporâneas, mas confere a elas uma visada própria, irônica, crítica, afetiva, iconoclasta, e sempre bela nas linhas, materiais e cores que refaz, inventa e adiciona.

Nelson Leirner com seus alunos. Da direita para esquerda respectivamente: Maurício Ianês, Edgard de Souza, Luciana Brito, Ana Maria Tavares, Lilian Tone, Nelson Leirner, Leda Catunda, Dora Longa Bahia e Caetano de Almeida.

Five monitors scattered through the exhibition space show Homens de Preto [Men in Black], an action carried out for the video camera. Figures wearing masks and black suits ceaselessly strike typewriter keys, generating an installation that is simultaneously visual and sonic, in which the artist talks about a model of obsolescence. These men seem to work tirelessly to extract something from these machines, but the only result of their action is the sudden failure of the characters themselves, who, exhausted by their repetitive movements, fall in a momentary death, only to later return into action.

The series Esvaziamento Cotidiano [Everyday Emptying] features five acrylic paintings on large-format canvases. Everyday drama and tension between individuals is the crux of the situations represented.

The series Esvaziamento Cotidiano [Everyday Emptying] features five acrylic paintings on large-format canvases. Everyday drama and tension between individuals is the crux of the situations represented.

The series Esvaziamento Cotidiano [Everyday Emptying] features five acrylic paintings on large-format canvases. Everyday drama and tension between individuals is the crux of the situations represented.

The series Desenhos Brancos [White Drawings] (which together with the painting series Esvaziamento Cotidiano form the family of works entitled Dramas) is executed entirely in white pencil and dry pastel on beige paper. The situations represented in this series are all taken from images appropriated from mass communication materials such as magazines and newspapers, and are thus derived directly from scenes presented in the media. The technique used in the drawings refers to the art of phantasmagoria, which originated in the images produced by the so-called magic lanterns, predecessors to the modern projection devices. These images took on a phantasmagoric aspect because of their projection on clouds of smoke. Walter Benjamin, fascinated by this technology, uses phantasmagoria as a term in relation to Karl Marx’s concept of merchandise as a fetish, pointing to the universality of the phenomenon of fetishism as a central characteristic of modernity. These subjects are always present on Rolla’s work.

A série Desenhos Brancos (que junto às pinturas de Esvaziamento Cotidiano forma a família de trabalhos Dramas) é toda executada em lápis e pastel seco brancos sobre papel bege. As situações representadas nessa série são todas oriundas de imagens apropriadas de meios de comunicação como revistas e jornais e, assim, partem diretamente de cenas apresentadas pela mídia. A técnica dos desenhos remete às fantasmagorias, cuja origem está nas imagens produzidas pelas chamadas lanternas mágicas, antecessoras dos modernos aparelhos de projeção. Essas imagens ganhavam aspecto fantasmagórico por conta de sua projeção em nuvens de fumaça. Walter Benjamin, fascinado por essa tecnologia, usa fantasmagoria como termo para aproximá-la do conceito de fetichismo da mercadoria de Karl Marx, assinalando a universalidade do fenômeno do fetichismo como característica central da modernidade, pontos presentes na pesquisa de Marco Paulo.

The series Desenhos Brancos [White Drawings] (which together with the painting series Esvaziamento Cotidiano form the family of works entitled Dramas) is executed entirely in white pencil and dry pastel on beige paper. The situations represented in this series are all taken from images appropriated from mass communication materials such as magazines and newspapers, and are thus derived directly from scenes presented in the media. The technique used in the drawings refers to the art of phantasmagoria, which originated in the images produced by the so-called magic lanterns, predecessors to the modern projection devices. These images took on a phantasmagoric aspect because of their projection on clouds of smoke. Walter Benjamin, fascinated by this technology, uses phantasmagoria as a term in relation to Karl Marx’s concept of merchandise as a fetish, pointing to the universality of the phenomenon of fetishism as a central characteristic of modernity. These subjects are always present on Rolla’s work.