NAPLES.- Since opening in Naples in January 2018,
Thomas Dane Gallery has aspired to reflect the dynamism of the city and to be a space for collaboration and exchange. The gallery hosts So Paulo’s Mendes Wood DM for Terra Trema—a group show featuring six artists working in Brazil: Paloma Bosqu, Anna Bella Geiger, Sonia Gomes, Patricia Leite, Solange Pessoa, and Leticia Ramos. Given its unique position, Naples becomes a fitting backdrop for the material richness of these artists—whose work includes painting, photography, sculpture, and film. By displacing a language of modernity in favour of sensorial practice, the legacy of Brazilian art is revisited in the framework of Naples.
The title of the exhibition refers to La Terra Trema—Luchino Visconti’s 1948 film loosely adapted from Giovanni Verga’s novel I Malavoglia (1881). Depicting a family of fishermen who live and work in Aci Trezza, Sicily, the film portrays the domestic struggles of social and economic mobility.
Bringing together an intergenerational selection of artists, Terra Trema spans a period from 1968 to 2019, with Bosqu and Leite exhibiting new work. Poetic processes of excavation and accretion—of personal and universal histories—meet an emphasis on materiality, whether geographic, photographic, or pictorial. The exhibition has been arranged in order to enhance experiential viewership, drawing attention to the works’ originality and connections.
Geiger scrutinises cartographic representation and its implicit structural control in works that inevitably reinforce the value of marginal viewpoints. Her films gesture toward transgression, Mapas Elementares No.3 (1976) for instance, becomes a visual poem which alludes to the conditions and myths attributed to cultures of Latin America. Pessoa’s display of soapstone sculptures (2013-2017), resemble large washed-up relics or archaeological artefacts. Her monochromatic oil on canvas works of amphibious, primordial, and anthropomorphic creatures appear as graphic compositions that preserve the formal qualities of her sculptures.
While Pessoa’s works recall early origins and the prehistoric life that populated such eras, Gomes’ precarious textile sculptures blend biographical and historical memory with intuitive materialisation. The singular sculptures of Bosqu focus on material evolution and ephemerality, using diverse materials such as: brass, felt, bronze, coal, gum rosin, beeswax, beef casing, craft paper, and coffee sieves. Bosqu’s incorporation of craft and handwork indexes her sculpture’s relation to the body, while the organic material and geometric forms bridge features of the Brazilian Neo-concrete movement with post-minimalist sensibilities.
Ramos and Leite remain attentive to their medium’s respective materiality and historical legacy. For Ramos, principles of photography and its base material elements—light and paper—are used to experiment with methodology. Typically for Ramos, this involves utilising techniques appropriate for documentary photography and manipulating their application for more spectral outcomes. Her film, No difcil para um investigador da natureza simular os fenmenos (2018), documents a sequence of eruption simulations. In Leite’s paintings, which include new works on wood made specifically for the exhibition, her minimalist bucolic vignettes utilise a glancing perspective, rendering fleeting, almost nave, visions from travels or videos; these sources externalise intimate experiences and tactile sensations.
The various sensibilities brought by the artists on show gives way to a compelling display. Terra Trema sheds light over the current production of art in Brazil while complicating any pre-conceptions one might have about what charactersises ‘Brazilian art’.
Paloma Bosqu (Gara, 1982) lives and works in So Paulo, Brazil. Her most recent solo exhibitions include O Oco e a Emenda, Pavilho Branco, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon (2017); Field, Mendes Wood DM, So Paulo (2016); O Incmodo, Piv, So Paulo (2015). Additionally, her work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as the Brasile. Il coltello nella carne, Pac - Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2018); Bienal de Coimbra, Coimbra (2017); Mycorial Theatre, Piv, So Paulo (2016); Projeto Piau, Piv, So Paulo (2016); Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist, The Jewish Museum, New York (2016); United States of Latin America, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2015).
Anna Bella Geiger (Rio de Janeiro, 1933) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Anna Bella Geiger: Here is The Center, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York (2018); Gavetas de Memrias, Caixa Cultural So Paulo, So Paulo (2018); Geografa Fsica y Humana, MUNTREF, Buenos Aires (2018), La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2017), Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporneo, Seville (2016). Her work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as Radical Women, Latin American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, New York (2018); Amrica Latina 1960-2013, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (2013); Vido Vintage, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2012); Modern Women Single Channel 5 Artists, MoMA PS1, New York (2011); Adding it up: Acquisitons 70-95, MoMA, New York (1995); 39th Venice Biennale, Venice (1980); PROSPECTIVA 74, Museu de Arte Contempornea de So Paulo, So Paulo (1974); So Paulo Biennials, So Paulo (1961-1967).
Sonia Gomes (Caetanpolis, 1948) lives and works in So Paulo. In 2018, the artist had her first major monographic institutional exhibitions in Brazil, at MASP - Museu de Arte de So Paulo and at the Museu de Arte Contempornea de Niteri. In addition, her work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as the 56 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2015); Entangled, Turner Contemporary, Margate, England (2017); Revival, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA (2017); Art & Textiles – Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2013); Out of Fashion. Textile in International Contemporary Art, Kunsten - Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark (2013).
Patricia Leite (Belo Horizonte, 1955) lives and works in Belo Horizonte. Her works has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as Mnimo, mltiplo, comum, Estao Pinacoteca, So Paulo (2018); Aprendendo Com Dorival Caymmi — Civilizao Praieira, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, So Paulo (2016); The Circus as a Parallel Universe, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2013); Outra Praia, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (2005).
Solange Pessoa (Ferros, 1961), lives and works in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her selected solo exhibitions include Solange Pessoa, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2017); Solange Pessoa, Mendes Wood DM, So Paulo (2016); Metaflor-Metaflora, Museu Mineiro, Belo Horizonte (2013); Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (2008); Museu da Inconfidncia, Ouro Preto (2000); Palcio das Artes, Belo Horizonte (1995); and Centro Cultural So Paulo, (1992). Pessoa received a grant from the Pollock Krasner Foundation (1996/1997), and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Brazil and abroad including New Shamans (2016), High Anxiety (2016), and No Man’s Land: Women Artists (2015), Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA; Arte e Patrimnio, Pao Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2014); Mostra do Redescobrimento, CAPS Muse d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France (2001); and Heranas Contemporneas (1999), Encontros e Tendncias (1993), Museu de Arte Contempornea de So Paulo.
Letcia Ramos (Santo Antnio da Patrulha, 1976) lives and works in So Paulo, Brazil. Selected solo exhibitions include: HISTRIA UNIVERSAL DOS TERREMOTOS, Itinerarios XXIII, Fundacin Botn, Santander (2017); VOSTOK – Um prlogo, Piv, So Paulo (2013); Bitcora, Mendes Wood DM, So Paulo (2012); Escafandro, La Bande Video, Quebc (2011); ERBF – Estao Radiobase Fotogrfica, Centro Cultural So Paulo, So Paulo, (2009/2010). Her work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as: Biennale Jogja XII, Jogja (2017); Hercule Florence: Le nouveau Robinson,Nouveau Muse National Monaco, Villa Paloma (2017); 18 Festival de Arte Contempornea Sesc Videobrasil – Panoramas do Sul, Sesc Pompia, So Paulo (2013); Expo Projeo 1973-2013, Sesc Pinheiros, So Paulo (2013); Se o clima for favorvel / Wheather permitting... 9 Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre (2013); Programa de Fotografia, Centro Cultural So Paulo, So Paulo (2012); Trilhas do Desejo, Rumos Artes Visuais, Ita Cultural, So Paulo (2009).
