{"id":2781,"date":"2013-12-25T13:41:49","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T13:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raulmourao.com\/blog\/?p=2781"},"modified":"2013-12-25T16:15:13","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T16:15:13","slug":"brazils-booming-contemporary-art-scene-by-nessia-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archive.raulmourao.com\/blog\/?p=2781","title":{"rendered":"Brazil’s Booming Contemporary Art Scene by Nessia Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

l\u00e1 no Artspace.<\/a>
\n\"artspace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no doubt\u2014Brazilian art is having its moment, not only at home but also in the United States and Europe.\u00a0There are reasons for the expansive territorial takeover beyond simply the country\u2019s booming economy. For one thing, Brazil has become a hot destination for new art fueled by Brazil\u2019s strong gallery community, events like the\u00a0ArtRio<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0art fair and the\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial<\/strong>, and world-class draws like the ever-expanding collection at\u00a0Bernardo Paz<\/strong>\u2019s\u00a0Inhotim<\/strong>, the cultural center\u00a0in Minas Gerais that generates a fever pitch of excitement when it unveils its new acquisitions every year or so. Then, on a broader level, Brazil is on everyone’s mind due to the fact that it will host two major international athletic events in the next few years: the\u00a02014 FIFA World Cup<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a02016 Summer Olympics<\/strong>, both in Rio de Janeiro. The spotlight generated by all of these elements has served to cast one fact in sharp relief: Brazil, over the last century, been generating spectacularly rich art.Within the work of contemporary Brazilian artists, one can find the history of the country, spanning from 20th century modernity back to the colonial period. The language they adopt is rooted in the cultural vernacular of Brazil,\u00a0overloaded by the sensory experience of the tropics, including touch and sound. It is a language unique to Brazil. The use of everyday materials has been a foundation of the country\u2019s art since the mid-1950s and 1960s, when artists like\u00a0Lygia Clark\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0H\u00e9lio Oiticica<\/strong>transformed found objects\u2014from cloth to metal and colored glass\u2014into spaces for colorful expressions that appeal to both the mind and the body. This aesthetic, native to the country\u2019s art, was celebrated in Caetano Veloso\u2019s classic 1968 song “Tropicalia,” in which he describes a monument \u201cmade of cr\u00e9pon paper and silver.”<\/p>\n