New York—Beginning March 11, Lévy Gorvy will present The Two Sides of an Empty Line, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Paulo Monteiro. Monteiro rejects monumentality and grand statements in his art in favor of expressive immediacy and intimacy, and an embrace of contingency, subtle humor, and gesture, stating: “I’m more connected to the expression, to the poetic, instead of sticking to a technique that favors me.”
Monteiro emerged as an artist in São Paulo, where he was born in 1961 and where he continues to live and work. Initially drawn to illustration and cartoon imagery, he was inspired to cultivate his painting practice in 1981, when he first encountered the late work of Philip Guston in Philip Guston, Sus Ultimos Años, the American exhibition at that year’s São Paulo Bienal. In 1983, he co- founded the artist’s group Casa 7 with Fabio Miguez, Rodrigo Andrade, Carlito Carvalhosa, and...Antonio Malta. Inspired by Guston’s profound humor and incorporation of comic imagery into contemporary painting, as well by the example of European Neo-Expressionism, Monteiro and his compatriots in Casa 7 introduced a new energy to Brazilian painting. Monteiro would combine these innovations with the compositional concerns of Neo-Concrete art specific to Brazilian contemporary art to develop his singular practice.
Fascinated by ballet and practicing dance himself for many years, Monteiro brings to his work a bodily awareness that manifests itself in balance and poise. His dedication to intuitive process and gesture extends across mediums and may be seen in both his sculptures and paintings. The sculptures bend, extend, tense, and flex while succumbing to the forces of mass, torsion, and gravity; likewise, his abstract paintings offer an immediacy of visual effect and affirm their origins as emerging from bodily gestures.
Displayed on the floor and mounted on the wall, Monteiro’s sculptures in The Two Sides of an Empty Line are comprised of painted and patinated bronze, aluminum, and felt. Working with the physical characteristics of his materials, the artist develops his sculptural works iteratively. The highly textured tubular forms of the bronze sculptures twist, sag, and break; likewise, the felt works evidence Monteiro’s mastery of cutting, folding, and pinning to yield hanging forms that push the possibilities of form. “More than the presence or the sharp expressiveness of the material,” curator Kiki Mazzucchelli notes, Monteiro’s sculptural compositions emphasize “the interplay of forces structured by the physical qualities of the elements.”
Monteiro’s paintings—varied in their dimensions, exuberant colors, and gestural demarcations, and displayed individually and as part of larger ensembles—are united by the artist’s distillations of painting to its essential nature while exploring its idiosyncratic expressive potential. Lines traverse these paintings, sometimes straight, and sometimes forming subtle curves and ovoid shapes. Embracing indeterminacy and complexity while exploring the limits and boundaries of forms, Monteiro transforms inert materials into works of art that take on a life of their own.
The Two Sides of an Empty Line is organized in collaboration with Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo. Monteiro is also represented by Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp and Misako & Rosen, Tokyo.
About the Artist
Paulo Monteiro (b. 1961) lives and works in São Paulo. Monteiro participated in the São Paulo Bienal in 1985, 1994, and 2013. In 2000, his work was included in Brasil 500 anos, an exhibition held at the São Paulo Bienal Foundation building that traveled to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2008, the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo organized Paulo Monteiro: A Selection 1989-2008. His work is in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museu de Arte Contemporânea, São Paulo; the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro; and the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.
About Lévy Gorvy
Lévy Gorvy cultivates a program devoted to innovation and connoisseurship in the fields of postwar and contemporary art. Founded by Dominique Lévy and Brett Gorvy, Lévy Gorvy maintains gallery spaces at 909 Madison Avenue in New York, in Mayfair, London, in the Marais, Paris, and in Central, Hong Kong. The gallery fosters continued dedication to the living artists and artists’ estates that it represents and offers a robust program of exhibitions and multidisciplinary events. The gallery also produces ongoing art historical research and original scholarship, publishing exhibition catalogues, monographs, and other key publications.
Imágenes de la Exposición
Paulo Monteiro in his studio, Sa?o Paulo 2021 — Cortesía de Lévy Gorvy
Entrada actualizada el el 12 feb de 2021
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