“My current work is about exploring sound structures in a sensory way, where I feel that music and nature come together in a kind of code. (…) I have always thought of sound, volume, and rhythm breaking boundaries and barriers in search of a place, looking for ways to visualize how this sound could be "seen" if it were traveling through a room, a body, or a garden.”
Chiara Banfi has had her work exhibited in national and international institutions such as The National Art Museum of China (Beijing, 2018), Oi Futuro (Rio de Janeiro, 2017), Instituto Tomie Ohtake (São Paulo, 2016), Museu de Arte Moderna (São Paulo, 2016), DHC/Art Foundation for Contemporary Art (Montreal, 2015), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego, 2013), Astrup Fearnley Museet (Oslo, 2013), Toyota Municipal Museum of Art (Toyota, 2008), David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies [DRCLAS] (Cambridge, 2006), Boston Arts Academy (Boston, 2006), and Fondation Cartier (Paris, 2005). Banfi's work is represented in collections such as the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Museu de Arte Moderna [MAM-RJ] (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, [MCASD] (San Diego, CA, USA); De Vleeshal (Middelburg, Netherlands); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil); Harvard University (Cambridge, USA); and Sammy Sayago Collection (Irvine, CA, USA). Chiara Banfi (São Paulo, 1979) lives and works between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
China ink on musical sheet
Photo Edouard Fraipont
In the works of the series Estudos de Debussy [Studies on Debussy], Banfi covers and erases notes on musical scores by Claude Debussy, creating a new construction with the compositions, modifying the use of the composers notations.
41 x 150 x 4 cm
China ink on musical sheet
Photo Edouard FraipontIn the works of the series Estudos de Debussy [Studies on Debussy], Banfi covers and erases notes on musical scores by Claude Debussy, creating a new construction with the compositions, modifying the use of the composers notations.
Bach´s musical scores, painted with china ink on pedestal
Photo Edouard Fraipont
Symbols of the same family are also seen in “Pausa de Bach” [Pause by Bach], 2016. In the installation that occupies the gallery’s main room, twelve books with different musical scores by Bach had their notations nearly completely blotted out by the artist with black ink, leaving only the symbols for pause and silence. Johann Sebastian Bach created a musical scale with a compositional logic that has been widely used until today in Western music, organized into twelve semi-tones (or notes).
Variable dimentions
Bach´s musical scores, painted with china ink on pedestal
Photo Edouard FraipontSymbols of the same family are also seen in “Pausa de Bach” [Pause by Bach], 2016. In the installation that occupies the gallery’s main room, twelve books with different musical scores by Bach had their notations nearly completely blotted out by the artist with black ink, leaving only the symbols for pause and silence. Johann Sebastian Bach created a musical scale with a compositional logic that has been widely used until today in Western music, organized into twelve semi-tones (or notes).
quartz and jet
Photo Vermelho
10 x 24 x 10 cm
quartz and jet
Photo VermelhoLaminated plywood sheet coated with sapele and water based marker; laminated plywood sheet coated with faia and solid beech wood collage
Photo courtesy of artist
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.
64 x 52 x 3 cm (each) - diptych
Laminated plywood sheet coated with sapele and water based marker; laminated plywood sheet coated with faia and solid beech wood collage
Photo courtesy of artistChiara 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.
raw white quartz, polished white quartz, 2 female RCA adaptors and a RCA cable on solid wood shelf
Photo Vermelho
The use of crystals and stones in Chiara’s work began during research into audio equipment. Investigating record players, Banfi discovered that part of the stylus that reads the groove in vinyl records consists of quartz crystal. This crystal acts as a natural equalizer, working with the stylus to uniformize the reading of music recorded on albums. Today, these quartz crystals are industrially synthesized, as they are crucial in equipment relying on rhythm and frequency. Stones, in general, have an intrinsic ability to transmit vibrations and frequencies. In Chiara’s work, they appear in various articulations
25 x 10 x 10 cm
raw white quartz, polished white quartz, 2 female RCA adaptors and a RCA cable on solid wood shelf
Photo VermelhoThe use of crystals and stones in Chiara’s work began during research into audio equipment. Investigating record players, Banfi discovered that part of the stylus that reads the groove in vinyl records consists of quartz crystal. This crystal acts as a natural equalizer, working with the stylus to uniformize the reading of music recorded on albums. Today, these quartz crystals are industrially synthesized, as they are crucial in equipment relying on rhythm and frequency. Stones, in general, have an intrinsic ability to transmit vibrations and frequencies. In Chiara’s work, they appear in various articulations
serigraphy on cork fiber
Photo Vermelho
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.
35 x 50 x 2,5 cm - each
serigraphy on cork fiber
Photo VermelhoChiara 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.