In its 20th anniversary year, Galeria Estação is showcasing a collection of 50 works at ArtRio. This diverse ensemble features paintings, sculptures, objects, and prints created from 1960 to the present by 12 different artists. The exhibition brings together artists who have worked in different historical moments, come from diverse social contexts, and possess varying cultural backgrounds. This variety of languages and repertoires is a significant part of Vilma Eid's public role since she established her gallery in São Paulo in 2004. Her gallery has conducted systematic research on what were once termed "popular" productions and has initiated diverse efforts to integrate these works into the contemporary art circuit. The current presentation at ArtRio somewhat synthesizes this history.

 

At the booth organized by Estação, notable figures from Brazilian art in the latter half of the 20th century are on display, including Amadeo Lorenzato, Antonio Poteiro, Chico Tabibuia, Itamar Julião, Júlio Martins da Silva, Mirian Inêz da Silva Cerqueira, and Nino. These are showcased alongside younger artists who are currently gaining increasing public recognition, such as Deni Lantz, Higo José, Rafael Pereira, Renato Rios, and Santídio Pereira. The collection highlights the unique qualities of each work and the possible convergences between them. However, it also underscores the changes in criteria for selecting, classifying, and circulating art in Brazil—a broad and ongoing process that has been significantly shaped by Galeria Estação since at least the 2000s.

 

Among the works on display, for instance, are the paintings of Julio Martins da Silva—rare and valued in the 1970s and 1980s but still relatively unknown in today's Brazilian art scene. These works represent the artist’s production from the 1960s onwards, characterized by detailed landscapes, generally smooth surfaces, and a somewhat imbalanced symmetry with elongated curves and serial forms (serving as flowers, branches, treetops, architectural elements, etc.). This attention to decorative motifs can be compared to the meticulousness with which Rafael Pereira, a 38-year-old self-taught artist like Julio Martins, approaches the representation of spaces, beings, and objects, without adherence to volumetry, proportions, and perspective.

 

There are similarities and contrasts in comparing the works of Itamar Julião and Higo José as well. Both share an ascensional movement in their sculpture and a minimalist, elemental figuration. However, Julião constructs his animal columns from monolithic, single pieces of wood, while Higo creates and stacks his "stones" made from foam and thread, resembling small monuments, menhirs, or dolmens. These pieces mix qualities of weight and lightness, rigidity and softness, regularity and roughness, challenging the appearance and materiality of the works. Julião’s animal forms are robust and austere, whereas José’s embroidery is linear and based on cave paintings from archaeological sites in Serra da Capivara, Piauí. Some of these Paleolithic-themed embroideries are also featured in Higo José's solo exhibition, "Timeless Threads," currently at Espasso in New York until November 8.

 

A quick comparison of the works of Amadeo Lorenzato and Deni Lantz presented by Estação at ArtRio reveals an interesting contrast. Lorenzato’s figuration appears to connect with abstraction through the intricate lines representing intertwining branches or the red spill creating hanging foliage. In contrast, Lantz’s atmospheric painting suggests broad, open landscapes with sparse, aerial brushstrokes. While Lorenzato is now a significant figure in modern Brazilian art, his work was almost unknown in the country a decade ago, with visibility limited to Minas Gerais. The first solo show of Lorenzato’s work in São Paulo took place only in 2014, organized by Galeria Estação. Deni Lantz, on the other hand, is gradually expanding his international presence, particularly after a two-month residency program at Residency Unlimited in New York this past May and June.

 

Finally, it is worth noting the role of color in Nino’s sculptural work and Santídio Pereira’s graphic experiments, both of which are quite specific and distinct from each other. Nino’s polymorphic work reveals different figures and scenes from various viewpoints, though they are composed of monoliths. In contrast, Santídio’s work is presented in a two-dimensional plane with clear, radical frontality, whether in the printmaking of woodcuts or painted wood, where leaf and flower outlines emerge through cutouts, incisions, and the fitting of multiple plates. Nino uses color combinations such as pink, blue, yellow, red, and green to give his structures a light, affectionate, and playful quality, sometimes enlivening their surfaces with stripes and circles. Santídio’s chromatic choices, on the other hand, intensify his already direct elements. Form and color merge into a single entity, acquiring expansive power as they animate his “fertile landscapes.” This description of the vivid aspect of Santídio’s work was the theme of his recent exhibition titled "Santídio Pereira: Fertile Landscapes" at the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo, which ended last August.