*By Wagner Barja
Quite timely was the quotation made in reference to Lúcio Fontana and Nelson Leirner in Cauê Alves’ text that addresses Geraldo Zamproni’s work. An individual who is mindful of the issues of his time and observes the ruptures brought about by his predecessors must be perceived as a language constructor. Therefore, such an artist must walk in the footsteps and follow the trail of those who preceded him, only then to tread his own path. Among many others, Fontana and Leirner left visible marks to follow.
With a simple slash on the surface, in a revolutionary gesture of synthesis, Lucio Fontana inaugurated a broader field of possibilities for a new aesthetics focused on investigating the other side of flat painting with concrete characteristics. This is a bidimensional style of painting in pursuit of the remote Renaissance depth of field contemporarily transposed to the unsteady terrain of environmental art ensconced in a space beyond the artwork, which provides the art object with an undeniable capability of being present in the world.
Nelson Leirner, recognizing the intensity and importance of the innovation introduced by that slash on the canvas, contributed to reaffirm these concepts with his own particular irony and humor in a Pop development of Fontana. Making clear reference to the original slash, Leirner added to Fontana’s aesthetic creation an opportune zipper, which interactively opens up to allow the eye to transcend the frontiers of the pictorial surface.
The aforementioned iteration is also convenient for Geraldo Zamproni’s work, which revisits this paradigm shift that is so prized by subsequent generations of artists in the recent history of painting.
Through the direct incorporation of the external world into the art object, Zamproni’s proposal centers on zipping canonical surfaces, which open and close by means of the interactive manipulation of the work and its externalities, elements that are not comprised of the art object itself, but of its inaccurate surroundings.
Interventions that dissect the essence of the earth with the scalpel of sight and with the practical and instantaneous nature of ideas and contemporary materials. Propositions that quite significantly and symbolically encompass this world’s surface and underground environments.
In spite of addressing architecture and landscapes, Zamproni’s interventions do not revolve around the representative universe. The artist searches for the unknown, the core of the elements he utilizes to transcend simple appearances, to transform the original functions of those elements into singular counterpoints that produce strangeness precisely in the details that are not perceivable to the eye, in the landscape and in the architecture. Therefore, the unimaginable becomes an elementary concept in his creative endeavors.
The subjective component is broadly manifested to highlight and make feasible, with the language of present-day art, the concept of unlikelihood. This notion is of the utmost importance because it involves the surroundings, the element that is not revealed in the scope of more traditional art, which is obviously upheld by non-prospective and representative and linear works. That being the case, the “B” side of an artistic proposition extends itself ad infinitum and gives way to other spacial possibilities, such as in Fontana and Leirner, who put forward a multidimensional spaciality that differentiates itself owing to the fact that it transcends the customary reality.
These approaches do not attempt to unveil the enigmas of the universe, but to expose them to the new and the impenetrable with the intent of connecting the created object to its surroundings, to the exterior elements that encircle it. Thus, philosophy is to come into play in order to perceive what one cannot visualize. A borderline language that connects the issues that find themselves on the boundaries, on the dividing lines, and then pours into the complex interior of the contemporary art work.
There is a tense relationship between strength and weakness that causes an intentional unbalance in Zamproni’s current proposition for the FUNARTE Marquee Project (Projeto Marquise FUNARTE). The diaphanous and Dyonisian inflatable material that curiously seems to support the entire structure of the construction, rather contrastingly, creates a metaphor with the Apollinean weight of the concrete marquee that connects the Funarte Cultural Center, located in the architectural complex created by Oscar Niemeyer, in Brasília.
The artist made the fortunate choice of placing his “inflatable elements” in a building designed by one of the greatest architects of the 20th Century. It is also interesting to highlight that the audacious poetic visions that single out Oscar Niemeyer’s architecture are, when compared to Zamproni’s propositions, coincidentally based on a very similar concept: make what seems impossible, possible. It is worthy of notice that Niemeyer’s bold conceptions, the huge free-spanning reinforced concrete structures made feasible as a result of structural calculations, become striking contrasts, a juxtaposition of extreme lightness and overwhelming weight. In parallel, both the artist and the architect establish a utopian aesthetics of the unlikely.
As for the “inflatable elements”, large red cushions that are a part of the surreal proposal of having light air-filled items apparently supporting a massive concrete slab over 320 linear feet long over several columns, there is a clear intent of making it appear as if such an endeavor is physically impossible, incompatible with reality. It is an ironic and contradictory intervention given the weight of the construction.
A design with such antagonistic elements generates discomfort because of the unusual sense of humor that unbalances the placid urban landscape. At first, the result obtained from the repetition of the images establishes a certain rhythm, in spite of the intense nonsense feeling caused by the sight of incompatible materials, and creates an element of surprise derived from the use of lighter elements to support the heavy ones.
Consequently, the artist fulfills the complex role of overcoming the massive and monumental modernist-city scale by directly intervening in and interacting with the work designed by an acclaimed icon of international architecture. Therefore, such an undertaking temporarily transforms the daily existence of this city into something extracted from the unlikely universe of art.
• Wagner Barja is a visual artist – Title of Notorious Knowledge in Visual Arts, Theory and History of Art, and Art Education – Director of the National Museum of the Cultural Center of the Republic in Brasilia.
2011
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Curitiba
Geraldo Zamproni
Graduated
Arquitetura e Urbanismo; Universidade Estadual de Londrina.
Solo Exhibition
2013 _ Museu Metropolitano de Arte de Curitiba – Curitiba – Paraná – Brasil
2012 _ Museu Oscar Niemeyer – Curitiba – Paraná – Brasil
2012 _ FUNARTE – Brasília – DF – Brasil
2010 _ Paço das Artes São Paulo – São Paulo – Brasil
2010 _ Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná – Curitiba -Brasil
2004 _ Museu da Gravura – Solar do Barão – Curitiba – Brasil
International – Group Exhibitions
2012 – AiOP – Art in Odd Places – New York – EUA
2011 _ Bienal do Milênio – Granada- Espanha
2010 _ Des-Habitables – Centro Cultural da Espanha – Lima – Peru
2009 _ Des-habitables – OTR Espacio de Arte, Madri – Espanha
2008 _ A propósito del espacio_OTR_Espacio de Arte, Madri – Espanha
2008 _ Artistas Emergentes Brasileiros – Madri – Espanha
2007 _ XII Premio Unicaja de Fotografia_Almeria_Espanha
2006 _ Prêmio Web Color concurso 2005/2006_ Itália
2006 _ Mostra de arte brasileira – Casa do Brasil – Madri – Espanha
2006 _ Un puente entre dos culturas –Fund. Rômulo Raggio–B. Aires – Argentina
2006 _ Arte Postal Ciudad de Ceuta_Espanha
2005 _ Hyogo International Competition of Painting – Kobe – Japão
2005 _ 2005 National Juried Exhibition PAA – Plano – Texas – EUA
2005 _ International Competition – New York – EUA
2005 _ Un puente entre dos culturas –Fund. Rômulo Raggio–B. Aires – Argentina
Group Exhibitions
2012 _ Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães – Brasília – DF
2011 – AUTORETRATO – Casa Andrade Muricy – Curitiba – Brasil
2010 _ Salão Elke Hering – Museu de Blumenau – Blumenau – Brasil
2009 _ Identidades Contemporâneas. Memorial de Curitiba -
2008 _ Salão Victor Meirelles – Florianópolis – SC
2008 _ SARP. Salão de Arte Contemp. de Rib. Preto – SP
2008 _ 59º Salão de Abril – Fortaleza – CE
2008 _ Salão Luís Sacilotto – Santo André – SP
2007 _ IV Mostra de Artes Unimed Ponta Grossa_PR
2007 _ Intersecções _ Memorial de Curitiba _ Curitiba_PR
2006 _ VIII Bienal do Recôncavo – São Felix – BA
2006 _ 11º Salão de Arte Contemporânea – MAC – São Paulo – SP
2006 _ VII Salão Graciosa de Artes Plásticas 2006_Curitiba_PR
2006 _ Mostra Paranaense de Artes Visuais Região Leste_S.J.dos Pinhais_PR
2006 _ Salão Concórdia de Arte_Curitiba_PR
2006 _ 5°Salão de Artes Visuais de Jataí_GO
2005 _ LVI SAAP – Contemporânea_Araras_SP
2005 _ VIII Prêmio de Arte Contemporânea 2005_Brasíli_DF
2005 _ 4° Salão de Artes Visuais de Jataí_GO
2005 _ Salão Luís Sacilotto – Santo André – SP
2005 _ Salão de Artes de Vinhedo _ Vinhedo_ SP
2005 _ XXIII Salão Limeirense de Arte Contemporânea _ Limeira_SP
2005 _ XIV Encontro de Artes Plásticas de Atibaia_SP
2004 _ Projeto Contemporâneo PUC- Niterói – RJ
2004 _ SAMAP – Arte Contemporânea – João Pessoa – PB
2004 _ 3° Salão de Artes Visuais de União da Vitória _ PR.
2004 _ APAP Coletiva_Curitiba_PR.
2004 _ Salão de Artes Visuais de Vinhedo _ Vinhedo _ SP.
2004 _ 14°Salão de Artes Visuais do Iguaçu _ Foz do Iguaçu_PR
2004 _ 27° Salão de Artes Visuais de Jacarezinho__PR
2004 _ XIII Encontro de Artes Plásticas de Atibaia_SP
2004 _ Solar do Rosário_Curitiba_PR
2004 _ I Salão Nacional de Artes de Paraty_RJ
2003 _ V Salão Nacional de Arte Religiosa_PUC_Curitiba_PR
2003 _ 3° Salão de São José dos Pinhais_PR
2003 _ V Salão de Artes de Vinhedo – Vinhedo _ SP.
2003 _ XII Encontro de Artes Plásticas de Atibaia _ Atibaia _ SP
2003 _ IX Salão de Artes Plásticas UNICENTRO _ Guarapuava _ PR
2003 _ II Salão de Artes de Toledo_Toledo_PR
2003 _ 27°Salão de Artes de Franca_SP
2003 _ 6° Mostra João Turin de Arte Tridimensional_Curitiba_PR
2003 _ Primeira Mão XXX Salão de Arte Jovem_Brasil/EUA_Santos_SP
2003 _ Fotografias Contemporâneas_MUMA_Curitiba_PR
2002 _ Salões de Arte Circuito Oficial_Santa Helena_ PR
2002 _ 26°Salão de Artes Plásticas de Franca_SP
2002 _ 14°Salão Paranaense da Paisagem_Maringá_PR
2002 _ 2° Salão de Artes Plásticas de Pato Branco_PR
2002 _ 3°Salão de Arte Contemporânea Brasileira_São Paulo_SP
Awards
2011 _ Funarte de Arte Contemporânea – Atos Visuais Funarte Brasília
2011 _ SPA das Artes Recife – PE
2005 _ 11°Salão do Mar_Antonina_PR
2005 _ Salão Helke Hering – Blumenau – SC
2004 _ III Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Curvelo – MG
2004 _ Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Franca – SP
2004 _ 10°Salão do Mar – Antonina – PR
2004 _ 15°Salão Paranaense da Paisagem – Maringá – PR
2004 _ Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Vinhedo_SP
2004 _ Salão de Arte Brasil-EUA – Santos – SP
2003 _ V Mostra de Artes Plásticas da Câmara Municipas de Curitiba_PR
2003 _Salão de Artes Plásticas de Jaú – SP
2003 _ Salão de Arte Contemp. de Rio das Ostras – RJ – Brasil
2003 _ V Salão de Artes Plásticas de Paranaguá – PR
2002 _ 10° Salão do Mar _ Antonina_PR
Collections
Museo de la Fundación Rómulo Raggio_Buenos Aires_Argentina
Secretaria de Educação e Cultura da Estância de Atibaia SP
Secretaria de Estado da Cultura do Paraná_Curitiba_PR
Secretaria de Cultura de Fortaleza_CE
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Jataí_GO
Secretaria de Cultura de Santo André_SP
Fundação Rio das Ostras de Cultura_Rio das Ostras_RJ.
Centro Cultural de Curvelo_MG
