Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel presents Diagonais, a group exhibition curated by Tiago Mesquita at Galpão, in São Paulo. The show is an investigation of diagonals in abstract art, with new works by Beatriz Milhazes and Jac Leirner, as well as historical pieces by Sonia Delaunay, Ivens Machado, Hércules Barsotti, Judith Lauand, Raymundo Colares and Wanda Pimentel alongside contemporary names such as Carlos Fajardo, Iran do Espírito Santo, Engel Leonardo, Rivane Neuenschwander and Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe.

In this exhibition, diagonals do not have a final meaning, but span different periods, procedures and approaches in art. They are considered according to different uses and the transformations they provoke in space and the pictorial plane. The diagonal is most of all a cut. It might be a straight line severing a surface, from vertex to the other, but also an inclination that destabilizes the horizon line, reconfiguring relations of balance between formal elements. What is being proposed is the diagonal as the representation of an oblique point of view, as a replication of a non-front facing perspective incorporating peripheral vision, full of occurrences that might not be central in space, but are decisive in representation. Finally, it may be the way in which volumes are set on the ground without sinking both feet vertically into it.

'This exhibition does not have an ultimate meaning. It explores a simple element in various uses and senses. It is a show of tangents that try to establish possible relations between different works with the same morphological element as a term of comparison. Currently, the discussion of issues concerning space and form in art, thanks to justified suspicions, has lost its centrality. I believe, however, that reflection around the persistence of rudimentary elements and their variations helps us to understand how these images can continue to construct new meaning for our experience.'– Tiago Mesquita, curator

Press release courtesy Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel.