MARLI MATSUMOTO REVEALS TWO NEW EXHIBITIONS: TOMBO & SEM TÍTULO, POR ENQUANTO

In Tombo, Alexandre Canonico presents his most recent production of drawings and "things" created from spray-painting and cuts and holes made by electric saws and drills in white MDF boards, measuring 185 x 137 cm (maximum size to fit to fit in the elevator of his studio).

“If it was literature, perhaps Xandi's (Alexandre Canonico) work would be a poem. Not a mannered, imposing, impenetrable poet-to-poet kind of poem, but a haikai, which combines common language to a fixed structure to distill the beauty of an instant, with no need for metaphors or similes: just the thing as it is. But I don't think he's going to like the comparison – a bit overused, no? – so I'm going to change it. If it was literature, perhaps Xandi's work would be one of those poems made of every day, written by an Angélica Freitas or an Adília Lopes, two experts in turning the ordinary into wonder”, writes Adriana Francisco in the exhibition's curatorial text.

The group show organized by Francesco João discusses the unpredictable and indeterminate, as the title of the exhibition suggests: Sem título, por enquanto (Untitled, for now). Francesco carried out a short a small conversation/interview with an artificial intelligence program (ChatGPT), in which he questions about the about the disinterest in predictability and the function of art. The selection was a set of works made from the rearrangement of other objects, disconnected from the idea of art as a divine act. The choice of artists was made based on from the research of productions that relate to different media, so that a work can be classified under various aspects. The works appear cyclically, or simultaneously, as paintings, objects and sculpture.

Franceso João says: “The works on view are often the result of re-arrangements, made of pre-existing elements, emancipated from the idea of artist’s demiurgic act. The works are at the same time paintings, sculptures and objects. Objects that are sculptures, sculptures that are paintings and so on, in a circular motion. I see the attempt to non-definition as a shield against predictability -which is comforting and makes you feel safe, but it also flattens you out. It shuns the unexplored in favor of the known and it mortifies”.

About Alexandre Canonico (1974, Pirassununga, Brasil). Graduated in Architecture at the Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo and in the post-graduate program at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Drawing is at the core of Canonico's practice. Sculptures, wall reliefs and installations play with the relationship between the drawing of the thing and the thing itself. His works are constructed through the articulation of lines, emptiness, colors, and distinctly abstract forms. The interdependence between the different parts that constitute the works and the marks of the gestures involved in their making reinforce their anti-illusionistic character. His recent exhibition include "Tombo" (2023) and "Sol" (2022), Marli Matsumoto Arte Contemporânea, São Paulo, "A casa é sua", Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2022) "Cidade Mecânica", Tropigalpão, Rio de Janeiro (2022), "Anderson Borba and Alexandre Canonico" Kupfer, Curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli, Londres, UK (2021), 'Bloomberg New Contemporaries' South London Gallery, Londres, Uk (2021), among others.

Francesco João (Milan, Italy, 1987) Lives and works between São Paulo, BR, and Milan, IT. His recent exhibitions include: x_minimal, curated by Friederike Nymphius, Cassina Projects, Milan, IT (2021); 1550 San Remo Drive, Hot Wheels, Athens, GR (2020); Francesco John, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, BE (2019); Knife in the Flesh - Contemporary Brazilian Art, PAC # Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, IT (2018); Donkey Man, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, BR (2017); Everything tends to go up. Or not, Pivô, São Paulo, BR (2016).

Jac Leirner (São Paulo, Brazil, 1961) Lives and works in São Paulo. His works have been exhibited in institutions such as the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, DE (2019); IMMA, Dublin, IE (2017); Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2017); MoCA Shanghai, CN (2016); Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, MX (2014); Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, BR (2001); Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, CH (1993); The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, US (1991); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK (1991); and The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US (1991). Leirner's work has been shown in group exhibitions at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, BR (2021); Tate Modern, London, UK (2016); Biennial Sharjah 12, Sharjah, EU (2015); MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2009); 47th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT (1997); and Documenta 9, Kassel, DE (1992).

Luisa Brandelli (Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1990) Participated in her first exhibition when she was selected for the Abre Alas of the gallery A Gentil Carioca. She has participated in exhibitions in galleries such as Bolsa de Arte, Fortes D'Aloia e Gabriel, A Gentil Carioca, among others, and public as Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana, Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul and Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center.

Kishio Suga (Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, 1944) lives and works in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture. His recent solo exhibitions include: Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2016); Dia: Chelsea, New York City (2016); and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2015). A recreation of his innovative outdoor installation Law of Situation (1971) was presented at the Gaggiandre at the 57th Venice Biennale until November 26, 2017, and his work was included in Japanorama - new vision on art since 1970, at the Metz Pompidou Center (2018). 

Valentina Liernur (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1978) studied between Beca Kuitca, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany; and in 2013 completed an Artist Residency at FAAP, São Paulo, Brazil. Liernur's work has been exhibited internationally and has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions solo exhibitions including Scarlata, Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2019); Sumisión, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY (2016); MEGA BY NO, Colmegna Spa, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015); Ahhhhhhhhhh, Campoli Presti, Paris, France (2015); Ahhhhh. ..Ah...., Campoli Presti, London, United Kingdom (2014); Corruzione, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY (2014) and Fiebre, Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2010).