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Paulo Burscky - From the series For Our Missing Ones 1977 (Courtesy of the Bronx Museum)
As Brazil is getting ready to host two major international
sports events in the next three years — the World Cup and the Olympics —
the country is also drawing the attention of the art world.
A new show at the gallery Hauser & Wirth
on the Upper East Side features art from the '50s to the '80s. The '50s
were an era of economic and cultural boom in Brazil, when the capital
Brasilia was constructed, as were major museums in Rio and Sao Paulo.
The pieces in the show express that transformation with abstract
paintings that use geometrical figures and unusual shapes.
This sort of art is called "constructivist" and Olivier Renaud-Clement, a private dealer who organized the show, explained that it is "is still something that is very much used toda, in contemporary art in Brazil. This is something that is really part of their language and vocabulary." Prices range from $15,000 to $1.4 million.
But at the Bronx Museum, one can get a much more political, provocative take on Brazil by contemporary artist Paulo Bruscky, who is from the northeast town of Recife. He staged his own funeral and wrote billboards with the phrase "art is our last hope." His art prompted the attention of the military dictatorship and he was arrested and tortured several times in the '70s.
Antonio Sergio Bessa, director of curatorial and education programs at the museum, is a native of Brazil and organized Bruscky's show. He said that in one piece, where Bruscky walked around town carrying a sign saying "what is art, what is it for." Bessa said that this was an example of the artist's sense of humor. "And he is wearing normal clothes," said Bessa. "Like the artist is like any other common citizen."
There is more Brazilian art coming. In the spring, the Museum of Modern Art will presents a major retrospective of late Brazilian artist Lygia Clark.
This sort of art is called "constructivist" and Olivier Renaud-Clement, a private dealer who organized the show, explained that it is "is still something that is very much used toda, in contemporary art in Brazil. This is something that is really part of their language and vocabulary." Prices range from $15,000 to $1.4 million.
But at the Bronx Museum, one can get a much more political, provocative take on Brazil by contemporary artist Paulo Bruscky, who is from the northeast town of Recife. He staged his own funeral and wrote billboards with the phrase "art is our last hope." His art prompted the attention of the military dictatorship and he was arrested and tortured several times in the '70s.
Antonio Sergio Bessa, director of curatorial and education programs at the museum, is a native of Brazil and organized Bruscky's show. He said that in one piece, where Bruscky walked around town carrying a sign saying "what is art, what is it for." Bessa said that this was an example of the artist's sense of humor. "And he is wearing normal clothes," said Bessa. "Like the artist is like any other common citizen."
There is more Brazilian art coming. In the spring, the Museum of Modern Art will presents a major retrospective of late Brazilian artist Lygia Clark.
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Gisele Regatao, Executive Producer, WNYC News
Gisele Regatao is the Executive Producer for WNYC News, where she oversees a team of producers and hosts, and the local content for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She is also in charge of the cultural coverage coming out of the Newsroom.
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