Marcelo Amorim: Machine

The repetition of standardized images that become part of a certain collective imagination and formulas of behavior imposed by institutions are some of the subjects covered by Marcelo Amorim in his new solo show at Zipper Galeria. In “Machine” , the artist leaned over a collection of century-old US magazine Popular Mechanics, important to spread the idea of “Do It Yourself”, to talk about an ideal of masculinity associated with menial activities, whether in war, in repairing machines or adventure sports.

Curated by Priscila Arantes, the show includes a set of about seven oil paintings; a selection of old photographs showing the male rituals in everyday life of soldiers while serving the army; and a video composed of old home movies on Super 8, where men proudly display their achievements as houses, cars and jets. In common, the works take as their starting point the selection and appropriation of images found in bookstores and online.

“Marcelo Amorim is an artist-collector; an artist-archivist who, by appropriating of sebum and the internet images, reveals the power handler of advertising images. In ‘mechanical’, he not only explores the fetishistic relationship of men with machines, but reveals a subtle way, the power handler of imaging techniques – to use an expression of Vilém Flusser- in the construction of social values ​​and stereotypes,” says curator Priscila Arantes.

In the series of paintings “machine”, which gives its name to the exhibition, the fetishized relationship established between man and machine appears as the background of the depicted situations, many of them inspired by the cover of the publication. The machine designed as a prosthesis, “an extension of the body can multiply the strength of man and reinforce a certain delirium of power,” in the words of the artist, it is another idea explored by him in this new work.

Unlike his previous paintings, in which monochromatic tones prevailed, this time a more vibrant color palette also approaches the magazine ultracoloridas illustrations.

In addition to criticizing the vicious mechanism of cultural industry in the dissemination of values, the work points to the ambiguous relationships we have with images at the same abusive and seductive time: “It’s a kind of Stockholm syndrome where the kidnapped falls for kidnapper” says the artist.