Del cuerpo al paisaje: Una perspectiva crítica de la xilografía en São Paulo, Brasil

En el mes de mayo de 2019 Sesc São Paulo inauguró una nueva sede en el distrito de Jardim Flor do Campo de la ciudad de Guarulhos en la región metropolitana del Gran São Paulo. En su espacio expositivo de 400 m2, Sesc Guarulhos presenta la muestra Xilo: Corpo e Paisagem que exhibe la producción xilográfíca reciente de São Paulo, de manera sistemática y contextualizada históricamente.

El grabado con la técnica de la xilografía tiene una amplia tradición moderna y popular en la cultura brasileña, y una historia única en el contexto de São Paulo. La es una perspectiva crítica sobre este recurso técnico del arte contemporáneo local, centrada en los años 90 y siguientes. Curada por Claudio Mubarac (Río Claro, SP, 1959), artista, investigador y profesor de la Escuela de Comunicación y Artes de la Universidad de São Paulo, la exposición nace de la investigación y el acompañamiento crítico del grabado en el contexto urbano de la ciudad más grande de Brasil. Según el propio comisario, este proyecto es "una aventura gráfica que se desarrolla en la ciudad".

The curatorship’s conceptual and historical approach considers a relevant moment in the local context: the emergence and organization of independent studios and workshops, apart from any institution, where printmaking production is conceived, shared and discussed in a more spontaneous way, often on the fringe of the art spaces and taking part in the public sphere. It is a social and artistic phenomenon that has taken shape over the last decades. With a certain public character, this production in woodcut has retained the value of artisanal work and resistance in times of the unbridled spread of digital devices, even while also making use of technological apparatuses itself. Far from the purism of printmaking in the first years of the 20th century, this production is anchored in the recent urban reality, stimulating “a diachronic and synchronic coexistence between the processes for constructing images through the use of a matrix.”

The show features more than 100 artworks by artists who have different profiles in regard to age and experience as well as their thematic and formal approach. The following artists, groups or artist collectives are participating: Ana Calzavara, Augusto Sampaio, Beatriz Lira (Xiloceasa), Claudio Caropreso, Cleiri Cardoso, Danilo Juliano (Xiloceasa), Denis Araújo (Xiloceasa), Eduardo Ver, Ernesto Bonato, Fabrício Lopez, Fernando Melo (Xiloceasa), Fernando Vilela, Flavia Yue, Flavio Capi, Francisco Maringelli, Gabriel Balbino (Xiloceasa), Gilberto Tomé, Igor Romualdo (Xiloceasa), Luciana Bertarelli, Luciano Ogura, Luisa Almeida, Luiz Lira (Xiloceasa), Marcio Elias, Mateus Costa (Xiloceasa), Otávio Zani, Paulo Penna, Pedro Pessoa, Ramon Santos (Xiloceasa), Revista Comando, Santídio Pereira, Simone Pereira, Taís Melo (Xiloceasa) and Ulysses Bôscolo.

The exhibition also includes educational activities, integrated with the show’s context and conceived together with the participating artists during the course of its production. There are guided visits, lectures, workshops and courses scheduled for these first months of Sesc Guarulhos’s operations. Designed by the Dal Pian Arquitetos Associados architectural firm, the 34.2-thousand-square-meter constructed space of this cultural sports and leisure center includes ample settings for the public to make contact with art and engage in dialogue about it, including in areas outside of its exhibition spaces strictly speaking.

These new facilities will also provide the general public with access to the artworks in Sesc São Paulo’s permanent collection. In its spaces and public leisure areas, visitors to this new Sesc can see works by renowned Brazilian artists such as Adriana Varejão, Anna Bella Geiger, Carlito Carvalhosa, Claudia Andujar, Eduardo Frota, Janaina Tschäpe, Leonilson, Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Sidney Amaral, and others. In this sense, the Greater São Paulo metropolitan region has gained a new place dedicated to the visual arts, promoting and disseminating Brazilian art to both local and foreign audiences.