Gilvan Samico, "Criação - Homem e Mulher", 1993

Gilvan José Meira Lins Samico (Recife, Pernambuco, 1928- ). Engraver, painter, draughtsman, lecturer. In 1952, together with other artists, Gilvan Samico founded the Ateliê Coletivo [Collective Studio] of the Sociedade de Arte Moderna do Recife – SAMR [Recife Modern Art Society], conceived by Abelardo da Hora (1924).

Gilvan studied wood engraving with Lívio Abramo (1903 – 1992) in 1957 at the Escola de Artesanato [School of Crafts] of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM/SP [São Paulo Museum of Modern Art]. In the following year, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he studied engraving with Oswaldo Goeldi (1895 – 1961) at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes – Enba [National School of Fine Arts]. With a great technical mastery, he dedicated himself in his work to textures elaborated with linear rhythms.

In 1965, he settled in Olinda, lecturing in wood engraving at the Universidade Federal da Paraíba – UFPA [Federal University of Paraíba]. In 1968, with the foreign travel prize won at the 17th Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art], he spent two years in Europe. In 1971, he was invited by Ariano Suassuna to join the Movimento Armorial [Armorial Movement], directed towards popular Northeastern culture and the literature of the Cordel.

Gilvan Samico

His output is marked by the recovery of the poetry of the Northeast through the Cordel literature and the creative use of wood engravings. His engravings are populated by biblical and other figures deriving from myths and local stories, as well as fantastic and mythical animals. With the presentation of new subject matter, he introduced a formal simplification into his work, reducing the use of colour and textures.

Samico has works in the MoMA in New York and participated twice in the Venice Biennale with an award in one of them.

via Samico, Gilvan (1928- ).

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Helio Oiticica's "Homage to Mondrian" (Photo by Michael Stravato for The New York Times)

Hélio Oiticica (Rio de Janeiro, 1937 – idem, 1980). Together with his brother, César Oiticica, Hélio began studying painting and drawing with Ivan Serpa at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro – MAM/RJ [Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro], in 1954. In the same year, he wrote his first text on the visual arts, after which, his recording in writing of reflections on art and his output became a habit. He took part in the Grupo Frente [Frente Group] in 1955 and 1956, and in 1959, became a member of the Neoconcrete Group. He abandoned his two-dimensional works and created spatial reliefs, bolides [fireballs/meteors], capes, standards, tents and penetrables.

In 1964, he began to make the so-called Manifestações Ambientais [Environmental Demonstrations]. At the opening of the Opinião 65 [Opinion 65] show, at the MAM/RJ, he protested when entry to the museum was denied to his friends, members of the Mangueira samba school, and he was expelled from the museum, holding a collective demonstration in front of it, in which the Parangolés were worn by his samba school friends. He took part in the Opinião 66 [Opinion 66] and Nova Objetividade Brasileira [New Brazilian Objectivity], presenting the Tropicália environmental demonstration. In 1968, he held the collective demonstration, Apocalipopótese [Apocalypopothesis] on the Aterro do Flamengo [Flamengo Land Reclamation Project], which included his Parangolés and Lygia Pape‘s Ovos [Eggs]. In 1969, at the Whitechapel Gallery, in London, he realised what he called the Whitechapel Experience, presenting the Éden [Eden] project.

For most of the 1970s, he lived in New York, during which period, he was a visiting scholar of the Guggenheim Foundation, taking part in the Information show, at the Museum of Modern Art – MoMA. He returned to Brazil in 1978. After his death, the Projeto Hélio Oiticica [Hélio Oiticica Project] was created in Rio de Janeiro, in 1981, with the aim of preserving, analysing and promoting his work, under the direction of Lygia Pape, Luciano Figueiredo and Waly Salomão.

Between 1992 and 1997, the Projeto HO staged a major retrospective that was presented in the cities of Rotterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Minneapolis and Rio de Janeiro. In 1996, the Secretaria Municipal de Cultura do Rio de Janeiro [Municipal Secretariat of Culture of Rio de Janeiro] established the Centro de Artes Hélio Oiticica [Hélio Oiticica Centre for the Arts], to house the entire collection of the artist and open it to the public.

via Oiticica, Hélio (1937 – 1980).

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"Corallo Chair", by Humberto and Fernando Campana, 2004

The Museum of Modern Art’s Design Store has been running regionally-sourced collections in their retails shops and online. Currently they’ve got an excellent array of products from Korea, and next up they’ll be bringing work from Brazil.

Spanning time periods, there’s also a mix of old and new, including the classic Mocho Stool from Sergio Rodrigues. The 1954 design interprets the traditional milkmaid’s stool used throughout Brazil, using the same local eucalyptus wood of the original. Representing Brazil’s contemporary national identity, the Campana Brothers‘ keep it modern with their new sushi bowl, a kaleidoscope of colors and materials rolled together in a manner implied by the name.

Playing to Brazil’s strengths, the exclusive collection is heavy on handmade objects that take advantage of indigenous natural resources, such as this centipede-inspired fruit bowl composed of coconut fibers, sugar cane and wood.

The Brazil collection will be available for a limited time via the MoMA Design Store website and brick-and-mortar shop or at MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).A short preview of the collection follows as a slideshow.

via Brazilian Design at the MoMA Store – Products – Dwell and MoMA Design Store Destination: Brazil

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• Roots: Oiticica, Hélio (1937 – 1980)

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Premiere Brazil! 2009, the seventh annual collaboration between MoMA and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, introduces New York audiences to original and compelling films by both new and established Brazilian filmmakers. The exhibition’s opening-night screening is the U.S. premiere of acclaimed director Bruno Barreto’s Last Stop 174, a tender and suspenseful story of human tragedy and loss set in Rio de Janeiro. Also featured are eight seminal works by Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil’s master of documentary filmmaking. Highly regarded for their formally distinguished and innovative style, Coutinho’s influential films highlight the amazing storytelling abilities of ordinary people. The Coutinho retrospective includes the world premiere of his latest film, Moscow. The festival’s annual selection of classic films celebrates the centenary of one of Brazil’s most popular composers, Villa Lobos, with a screening of the rare 1937 Humberto Mauro film The Discovery of Brazil, which features a beautiful Lobos score. Several music-filled documentaries featuring Brazil’s most beloved contemporary poets and performers form a significant component of this year’s festival, which also includes live performances of Brazilian music in the Museum’s Sculpture Garden, presented as part of MoMA Thursday Nights. All films are from Brazil and in Portuguese with English subtitles. Most first screenings will be introduced by the filmmaker(s).

via MoMA | Premiere Brazil! 2009.

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