In the Radiante system, the word sun is written in different languages, according to a graph that simulates the sun’s rays and that, for each quadrant,the artists assign a letter. Each module/ letteris reproduced in goldplated wood, Nar is the word for sun in Mongolian

ESCADINHA [LITTLE LADDER] is part of Gross’s body of work that investigates ladders as simple machines that require effort from the body to “reach heights desired by the eye.” Ladders were born as instruments of war and, together with arrows and stones, took conflicts beyond the ground. This ambivalence between simple construction and complex uses is present in the organization of the materials that make up ESCADINHA: the bronze, which is heavier, is tied in a rudimentary way to the wooden piece, which struggles to support its pair.

“This work, whose name plays with the title of the book Education by the Stone by João Cabral de Melo Neto, proposes an invitation to think about education, from its most basic form, such as the A-E-I-O-U, to the academic realms, through perspectives that are foundational to our culture, particularly the popular ones.
The plants of power teach us the ABCs of other dormant forces within us, and the literacy of these potentials is an urgent task in our formation, so that we also gain eloquence in telling our stories and protection against the curses of the past.”
— André Vargas

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.

The works in this series were created in 2006 during a festival of Obaluaiê at the Ilê Axé Atará Mabá, led by Mother Giselle Omindarewa, born Gisèle Cossard in 1923.
Cossard, who was 95 years old at the time, was the first Frenchwoman to be initiated as a Mother of Santo in Brazil and was a recognized expert in Obaluaiê, the deity of health and illness and Lord of the Earth.
Born to diplomats, Cossard lived in many African countries until she married a diplomat who would later become the French ambassador to Brazil. During her stay in Rio de Janeiro, she met Abdias do Nascimento, who introduced her to Candomblé. When she passed away in 2016, Mother Giselle had more than 400 godchildren.
The photos in the series were taken with analog cameras, allowing for long exposure times. This technique brings movement and warmth to the images, which seek to capture the essence of the Obaluaiê festival, which typically takes place during the day when it is warmer, as heat is one of the characteristics of the deity who dwells in the depths of the Earth.

The works in this series were created in 2006 during a festival of Obaluaiê at the Ilê Axé Atará Mabá, led by Mother Giselle Omindarewa, born Gisèle Cossard in 1923.
Cossard, who was 95 years old at the time, was the first Frenchwoman to be initiated as a Mother of Santo in Brazil and was a recognized expert in Obaluaiê, the deity of health and illness and Lord of the Earth.
Born to diplomats, Cossard lived in many African countries until she married a diplomat who would later become the French ambassador to Brazil. During her stay in Rio de Janeiro, she met Abdias do Nascimento, who introduced her to Candomblé. When she passed away in 2016, Mother Giselle had more than 400 godchildren.
The photos in the series were taken with analog cameras, allowing for long exposure times. This technique brings movement and warmth to the images, which seek to capture the essence of the Obaluaiê festival, which typically takes place during the day when it is warmer, as heat is one of the characteristics of the deity who dwells in the depths of the Earth.

In the series Statements, Argote creates monuments of affection that carry words of union. Constructed as copper-plated concrete pillars supported against the wall, the works celebrate the value of supporting one another. Statements is part of Iván Argote’s long research on the history of ideologies, the notion of the monument, and its impact on the formation of subjectivities.

Chiara Banfi’s interest lies in the confluence between nature and sound – or nature and music. From her early large scale expansive drawings – that invaded and dialogued with the given architectural space forming visual soundwaves – to her more recent works deploying rocks as rhythm dispersing solids, her production seeks to give corporality to bodiless findings.

In the Mamarracho series, scribbles are drawn, digitized, magnified 1,000 times and then painted on white canvases. The black lines randomly cross the canvas, flowing onto the wall, making these works hybrid image-objects that simulate graffiti on a blank canvas.
The Mamarrachos are related to the video Retouch (2008), where, in a fictional action for the camera, we see Argote spray painting two paintings by Piet Mondrian.

In Nadar nada mar, Cadu layers a series of procedures in the creation of his drawings, much like he layers references in his desire to return to figuration in the creation of images. Science, alchemy, mysticism, poetry, and mythology converge in representations where the real and fictional coexist. The series consists of 7 drawings that allude to the ancient seven seas: the Adriatic, Arabian, Caspian, Mediterranean, Black, Red, and Persian Gulf.

In Escala disciplinar [Disciplinary Scale], 2019, Marcelo Cidade uses the anti-homeless spikes as part of a typological research on the methods of ‘hostile architecture’. Departing from the average height of a Brazilian, Cidade organizes a collection of these devices with reference to the traditional cuts (or views) presented in architectural studies: frontal view, side view, and detail. By uniting the human-scale design language with the ‘Hostile Architecture’ devices, Cidade returns to the human the dysfunction caused by ‘Hostile Architecture’ strategies.
“I have noticed the use of these elements in different cities and I am more and more intrigued by the duality between function and dysfunction in the main purpose of this architecture that generates the exclusion of the human body in relation to the public space,” says the artist.

“Rennó’s insistence on working with portraits crosses supports and articulations and lays bare the transparency of the photographic image. Before being objects full of meanings, works of art, gems for collectors, these photos were just identification portraits or vernacular images. They served to be presented to the authorities, but also to carry in your wallet, paste in an album, or show to friends, to kiss… time has turned them into memories, into relics, into imago.”

Maria Angélica Melendi – Excerpt from Little Ecology of the Image: a glossary under construction, 2021

“The skies are attempts to synthesize landscapes constructed with various materials found on the streets into a smaller pictorial space. The spatial limitation requires a more precise constructive reasoning and allows for a more direct relationship with the original use of the element that constitutes the landscape and its new function (such as, for example, a bath towel that becomes a road). The encaustic technique runs through the series, functioning at times as a copper plate on which we can carve and engrave lines, and at other times as a homogeneous paste that refers to the skies in their multiple personalities (green, blue, lilac, gray, brown). These are paintings that strengthen by being linked to each other, but at the same time leave room for other skies to appear and promote new constructive attempts to organize the landscape and the various elements that constitute it.”
Meia, 2024

In his new work, Marcelo Cidade references the emblematic 1950 painting by Aluísio Carvão, a prominent figure of the Grupo Frente.

Active in Rio de Janeiro during the 1950s, the group was pivotal in consolidating concrete art in Brazil. Led by Ivan Serpa, the group sought a radical break from figurative representation, emphasizing the autonomy of visual language, free from the traditional scheme of representation and the national identity project that had prevailed in modern art until then.

Marcelo Cidade reworks Carvão’s painting with spray paint on a textile conglomerate blanket, commonly used in social actions against the cold felt by the growing homeless population in urban centers.

In his new work, Marcelo Cidade references the emblematic 1950 painting by Aluísio Carvão, a prominent figure of the Grupo Frente.

Active in Rio de Janeiro during the 1950s, the group was pivotal in consolidating concrete art in Brazil. Led by Ivan Serpa, the group sought a radical break from figurative representation, emphasizing the autonomy of visual language, free from the traditional scheme of representation and the national identity project that had prevailed in modern art until then.

Marcelo Cidade reworks Carvão’s painting with spray paint on a textile conglomerate blanket, commonly used in social actions against the cold felt by the growing homeless population in urban centers.

The title Memória Gráfica [Graphic Memory], refers to the set of lithographic stones that Moscheta found broken irregularly and used to complete his fractioned drawings of rock formations. Moscheta works with the idea that through fragments we can mentally compose an imaginary mountain range of “fulls” and “empties”, in an artistic operation that unites the drawing to the object, as part of the same linguistic system.

The linear bases trace the path to the graphite drawing on a black background, which are rebounded by the lithographic stones which fissures complete the representation of the rock formations, as if both were the same: the represented object and the instrument of representation, the memory contained on the surface of the lithographic stone (which one day generated numerous reproductions) in a new and last black print that returns it to the landscape of stones. The lithographic stone ceases to be the matrix to become the copy.

“My work investigates the intersections of geometry, music, and abstract symbolism, focusing on the structural connections between musical harmony and geometric forms. By examining these relationships, I reveal how patterns in musical harmony and sacred geometry correspond with each other, offering insight into the universal resonance of form.

Music and geometry share an intrinsic relationship. The structures within music, such as the triangles formed by fundamental triads, reflect the simplicity and elegance of harmonic relationships. Visualizing musical chords as geometric forms demonstrates the direct connection between musical theory and geometric structure, enhancing the understanding of harmony in both visual and auditory contexts.

The triangle, as a symbol of balance and unity, is central to many abstract and symbolic systems. In sacred geometry, the equilateral triangle represents equilibrium and interconnectedness. Through my work, I explore how these geometric symbols reflect universal truths, with a focus on their resonance within form and structure.

In my watercolor series, the repetition of triangles moves beyond technique and becomes a meditative process. Each iteration deepens the contemplation of the triangle’s inherent qualities of balance and unity. Through this repeated practice, I explore the significance of the triangle as a fundamental geometric form, both visually and conceptually.

This body of work focuses on the relationship between geometric patterns and musical harmony, using abstraction and repetition to explore the deeper insights embedded in simple forms.”

Chiara Banfi

“My work investigates the intersections of geometry, music, and abstract symbolism, focusing on the structural connections between musical harmony and geometric forms. By examining these relationships, I reveal how patterns in musical harmony and sacred geometry correspond with each other, offering insight into the universal resonance of form.

Music and geometry share an intrinsic relationship. The structures within music, such as the triangles formed by fundamental triads, reflect the simplicity and elegance of harmonic relationships. Visualizing musical chords as geometric forms demonstrates the direct connection between musical theory and geometric structure, enhancing the understanding of harmony in both visual and auditory contexts.

The triangle, as a symbol of balance and unity, is central to many abstract and symbolic systems. In sacred geometry, the equilateral triangle represents equilibrium and interconnectedness. Through my work, I explore how these geometric symbols reflect universal truths, with a focus on their resonance within form and structure.

In my watercolor series, the repetition of triangles moves beyond technique and becomes a meditative process. Each iteration deepens the contemplation of the triangle’s inherent qualities of balance and unity. Through this repeated practice, I explore the significance of the triangle as a fundamental geometric form, both visually and conceptually.

This body of work focuses on the relationship between geometric patterns and musical harmony, using abstraction and repetition to explore the deeper insights embedded in simple forms.”

Chiara Banfi