Releituras da Natureza-Morta

Curated by Ligia Canongia, Releituras da Natureza-Morta [Rereading of Still Life] presents works by thirteen renowned Brazilian and international artists that reflect their view on contemporary issues concerning the genre of still life and how it can be reinterpreted in our times.

During the process of conceiving the exhibition and works, Canongia instigated the artists with reflections about the production of the genre and how it would be possible to update it. Since its appearance in Flemish painting, representations of skulls, candles and hourglasses made themselves present as references to death and the passing of time. The curator proposed thus a challenge to the invited artist: to face the genre acknowledging that time has passed. For Canongia. “still life, with its non-allegorical, discrete and inert character, is by definition exempt of rhetorical and mythical elements, what poses an everlasting challenge for the production of metaphors, the structuring base of all poetical sense”.

The artistic responses that arose from this challenge were multiple and diverse. Alex Yudzon (b. 1977, Moscow, Russia) proposed the series “The Book of Healthy and Tasty Food”, composed of images that recreate the illustrations of the only cooking book available in former Soviet Union. The objects (no longer available in the market), can labels, table cloths, plates and backgrounds are recreated through painting by the artist. Livia Marin (b. 1973, Santiago, Chile), by her turn, created pieces from the series “Nomad Patterns”, where classic pieces of Chinese porcelain – like cups and teapots – appears as melted.