MÁRCIA FALCÃO

Corpo de Cor, which translates to Body of Colour, is both the title and the programmatic framework of the exhibition. In Falcão’s paintings, her artistic reflection on painting as a medium merges with her exploration of the body. The latter appears not only as a physical entity, but also as a carrier of history, identity, and political meaning.

In impasto layers of oil paint, Falcão paints voluminous nudes with dynamic brushstrokes. Her works have a painterly and physical urgency reminiscent of the fleshy materiality of Lucian Freud or the monumental body representations of Jenny Saville. Falcão, however, clearly locates the body as a Black woman’s body – including her own, marked by lived experience.

Márcia Falcão’s painterly approach is metalinguistic. Her engagement with the formal conditions of painting results in works that establish complex references to femininity, motherhood, art history, marginalisation and violence.

This exhibition, according to the artist, condenses ‘over twenty years of research into painting based on the body in five continuously developed series’: Ioga Psicológica, Monumentais, Capoeira em Paleta Alta, Passinho, and Malandra não para. With each of these series, Falcão sets herself new challenges, thereby opening the door to the next one.

Raphael Fonseca writes: “Whether in her allegories of urban violence or in her dilacerating views of the many forms of solitude endured by non-white women, in particular those who are mothers like her, Márcia Falcão invites us to join together the pieces of her puzzles. For the artist, painting is a way of providing meaning to shattered existences. Just like life itself, there will always be something missing, but in the meantime, we can collect the fragments of her red floors and learn about the stories that her paintings tell us.”

Márcia Falcão was born in 1985 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lives and works today. The artist has exhibited in both Brazil and the United States and is featured prominently in this year’s 36th São Paulo Biennial, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, which just opened. Her most recent solo and group exhibitions include Diálogos entre Carolee Schneeman, Diego Bianchi e Márcia Falcão at Pivô, São Paulo (2024); Funk! Um grito de ousadia e liberdade at MAR – Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro (2023); Pai Contra Mãe at Instituto Inclusartiz, Rio de Janeiro (2023); and Márcia Falcão at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo (2022). Falcão’s works are included in important public collections, including the Instituto Inhotim in Brumadinho, Brazil; the Marquez Family Collection in Miami, USA; the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro; and the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, USA.