Fṛm Đ Gardịn: ‘We’ve done so much damage’: Beatriz Milhazes’ carnivalesque odes to nature

Beatriz Milhazes’z 'Douradinha em cinza e marrom,' 2016. Photograph: Private Collection courtesy Weiler Seiler Fine Art/Manuel Águas & Pepe Schettino/Beatriz Milhazes Studio
Beatriz Milhazes’z ‘Douradinha em cinza e marrom,’ 2016. Foṭgraf: Prîṿt C’lex́n crṭsi Weiler Seiler Fîn Art/Manuel Águas & Pepe Schettino/Beatriz Milhazes Stydio

‘W’v dn so mć damij’: Beatriz Milhazes’ carniṿlesc ǒdz t nećr

(Transcription of a Guardian article of 18 May 2023)

Ahd v a historic srve v hr wrc at Marget’s Trnr Cntmprri, ɖ Bṛziłn artist dscusz hr globl insṗreśnz, śep-śiftñ patnz, n ẃ ś’z stl an opṭmist

Skye Sherwin

Scai Śrwin, Ʈrzde 18 Me 2023

Naṿgetñ Beatriz Milhazes’ fībrîl riinvnśn v jịmetric abstrax́n cn fīl lîc trayñ t mc hedwe ʈru a carnivlcrǎd. Hūps, mandalaz, flǎrz n uɖr srklr mtīfs spin lîc dansrz acrs hr canvsz, ɖer brît culrz slamñ intu ć uɖr. Wɖ its iruptñ formz, ẃć hv ivolvd fṛm tumbli, lêsi aṛbescs t hard-éjd gridz, sprǎtñ līvz n flowñ wevz, ɖ Rio de Janeiro-best artist’s wrc hz ɖ xes v a strītparti, a b’roc ćrć, a jungl.

“I’v traid t brñ ny posbiḷtiz t ɖ cors v abstrax́n,” ś sz ẃl gtñ redi fr hr frst YC insttyśnl śo in mor ɖn tū decedz: a srve, at Marget’s Trnr Cntmprri, v 20 ci pentñz spanñ hr 30-plus-yir c’rir az wn v ɖ wrld’z līdñ abstract pentrz. “Mî ćalinj z hǎ t wrc wɖ jioṃtri n lîf. I’m in fevr v lîf, w nīd it!”

Milhazes rcōlz hǎ, ẃn ś studid art in Rio in ɖ 1980z, pentñ hd bn a lesr fors in Bṛzil’z culćṛl sīn. Instd it wz doṃnetd bî ɖ Tropicália insṭleśnz v Lygia Clark n Hélio Oiticica ɖt mltd bǎnḍriz btwn art n lîf. So Milhazes lct t Yṛp. Hr frst n indyrñ tućstonz includd Piet Mondrian n hiz inṭrest in nećr n strucćr az wel az Henri Matisse, a fōrber in c’lāźd śeps, vivid culrz n ɖ psyt v byti, wɖ hūm ś flt “ɖ dīpist cnx́n”.

T brñ ny hīt t ɖz îdīaz, ś trnd t Rio, tecñ insṗreśn fṛm its arc̣tecćr n vnaklr culćr. Hr grajụt wrcs c’lāźñ spangld carnivlfabrics wr inspîrd bî ɖ spectaklr crieśnz v ɖ gret carnivl dzînr Fernando Pinto, ẃl historicl dres n wimin’z dmestic lebr mcñ lês n crośe wz anɖr rli refṛns. In 1989 ś bgan dveḷpñ hr sigṇćr transfrtecnīc, yzñ cut-ǎt plastic śeps lodd wɖ pent t imprint formz on ɖ canvs. Ɖ rzultñ srḟsz hv intns culrz bt r nt postr-smuɖ. Rɖr ɖ’r viẓbli leyrd, txćrd n cract.

At Trnr Cntmprri, Milhazes’ rliist pentñz wl cm az a s’prîz t ɖoz fmiłr wɖ ɖ artist’s lêtr bold abstrax́nz. Rcōlñ lêswrc, wōlpepr n floṛl fabricprints, ɖer patnz r lūsr n mor obvịsli handwrced. Flǎrz, ɖo, r a constnt mtīf n nt jst bcz v ẃt Milhazes siz in Rio’z femd btanicl gardnz or naśnl parc. “Ɖe orṇmnt ɖ sad momnts, ɖ bytifl momnts, n r part v ppl’z lîf,” ś sz.

Az hr viźn pṛgresz, ɖ compziśnz bcm staġrñli complex. In Maracorola, an inorṃs 2015 pentñ v olmst ʈri mītrz, ś cmpozz a lanscep wɖ pulsñ hūps, wevz, vejitl sqiglz n a blezñ sún acrs a ćécrbōrd grǎnd. It’s a cntrold rayt v form n culr, wɖ tū ci mtīfs: ɖ srcl n wev. “Ɖ srcl z an organic śep n hz no end,” ś sz. “It’s spirićl n medittiv. Mî inṭrest z mor abt muvmnt, ɖo. Y nvr riyli fînd ɖ sntr in mî wrc. I cōl it a maʈ̇maticl drīm.”

Inspîrd bî Rio’z cǒst n parcs, Milhazes hz groun mor inṭrestd in nećr lêtli, n it z a foc̣s v hr Marget xbiśn. “W’v dn so mć damij; it’s nt jst abt stopñ ɖt bt olso xaṃnñ ǎr hop fr nećr t rny,” ś sz. “I’m an opṭmist n I wont t śo hǎ mć w nīd ɖ breʈ v ɖ līvz, ɖ wōtr, scî n sún. Mî wrc z abt lîf. Ẃrvr it’s śoun, ppl cnct t it.”

Beatriz Milhazes: Maresias
Trnr Cntmprri, Marget, 27 Me t 10 Sptmbr.
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Srclz v inflụns: for wrcs fṛm Maresias

Douradinha em cinza e marrom
2016 (mn imij)

Ɖs î-popñ rīsnt wrc, huz jịmetric formz puls ǎtwdz fṛm its sitṛs sntr, śoz Milhazes’ pạniyrñ ys v fiğṛtiv elimnts – hir flǎrz n līvz – in abstract pentñ.

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Maracorola
2015

Milhazes siz ɖs vast pentñ az cmbînñ ci aspects v hr dveḷpmnt az an artist, includñ hǎ ś ʈncs v compziśn in trmz v lanscep’s posbiḷtiz. It xplorz ɖ sī’z riɖmz, sìn clirli in ɖ riplñ wevformz.

Photograph: Courtesy Ivor Braka Ltd/Manuel Águas and Pepe Schettino/Beatriz Milhazes Studio
Foṭgraf: Crṭsi Ivor Braka Ltd./Manuel Águas n Pepe Schettino/Beatriz Milhazes Stydio

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Maresias
2002

Ɖs wrc gvz Milhazes’ xbiśn its tîtl, n mīnz “sì er”. Lîc wn v hr fōrberz, ɖ avãgard Frenć artist Sonia Delaunay, Milhazes hz xplord búzñ srklr formz. Ɖs pentñ sjsts multipl refṛnsz, fṛm mandalaz t targits n floṛl dec̣reśn.

Photograph: Fausto Fleury/Beatriz Milhazes Studio
Foṭgraf: Fausto Fleury/Beatriz Milhazes Stydio

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A Casa da Maria
1992

In wn v ɖ rliist wrcs in ɖ śo, Milhazes drwz on ɖ hisṭri v dres-mcñ n wimin’z dmestic lebr in Bṛzil, refṛnsñ “ɖ cnd v crośe mî granmuɖr yst t d”. Its gold pálit rcōlz ćrć orṇmnteśn.

Photograph: motivo/Jonathan and Wendy Grad/ Vicente de Mello/Beatriz Milhazes Studio
Foṭgraf: motivo/Joṇʈn n Wndi Grad/ Vicente de Mello/Beatriz Milhazes Stydio

Instroduction to Ñspel

"House by the Railroad," Edward Hopper, 1925

04/06/2023

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