ARTBO 2022

“Schemes”, by Igor Vidor

The work proposes a historical look at the failure of the country’s modernization plan. Bullet cartridges, collected in conflict zones between different war powers in the city of Rio de Janeiro, are inserted between planes, which in turn are “disarranged”. The artist investigates the failure of a plan that symbolizes aseptic functionalism, which did not foresee or include the presence of the body; the absence of this body, then marginalized for not participating in the social contract that was tried to establish with developmental thinking in Brazil (promised since the construction of our current federal capital) is also seen in the elaboration of geometric abstraction in the country.

“Works”, by Luisa Fernanda Lindo

In Obra [Works], Pablo Ravina takes as a starting point the Odebrecht case, which meant a schism in several countries in the region by revealing the network of systemic corruption in which various personalities and public and private institutions in Latin America were involved. Thus, Ravina makes use of the phrase STEALS BUT DOES WORK —which is becoming more and more rooted in the Latin American imaginary— with the intention of documenting the normalization of corruption in recent times.

The series is made up of nine paintings done in acrylic on linen that follow the aesthetics of hard edge abstract painting. The particularity of this series lies in the choices made by the artist to stress the literalness of these pieces. On the one hand, all the paintings bear the inscription STEALS BUT DOES WORK which, as a trace, is located in the same position. On the other hand, the color palette used in each piece refers to the flags of the countries involved in the Odebrecht case, such as: Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil. Likewise, the geometric patterns used by Ravina are inspired by works by artists from these same countries, such as: Eduardo Moll, Fanny Sanin, Graciela Hasper, Matilde Pérez, Amalia Nieto, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Vicente Rojo, Araceli Gilbert and Willys de Castro.

Thus, in Obra Pablo Ravina not only proposes a rereading of the phrase STEALS BUT MAKES WORK, but also puts his own artistic practice in tension by revealing the blurred limits between deliberate theft, appropriation and reference.