LUCIA LAGUNA

Carpintaria is pleased to present Se hace camino al andar, the latest solo show by Lucia Laguna. This is the artist’s first one-person exhibition in Rio since Enquanto bebo a água, a água me bebe, which took place at Museu de Arte do Rio, in 2016. In these new paintings created in 2020–2021, Laguna reinforces the existing inseparability between her artistic process and the context of her studio, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. Taking the view from her window and front yard as a starting point—a passageway full of plants to which the artist tends on a daily basis—, she plots her landscapes.

‘Before, my work would reference expressways and far more urban settings. But this series is quite organic. It’s not such a far-reaching landscape, as it’s focused in my front yard. The yard takes centre stage’. This fresh body of work bears the scars of the lockdown. ‘I used to see the landscape, the streets, construction sites, skylines. Due to current issues, I find myself at home at all times. I can only access further images through my own books and surroundings’.

Her pictorial practice is empirical in nature. ‘When I begin painting a canvas, I have no idea where it will go. There’s a general course, but no limits’. It all starts with propositions from the artist to her assistants, who initiate the process by outlining the surface, inserting figures and other graphic signs. As she takes over, Laguna ignites a process of deconstructing what was previously there. In an ambiguous effort of intervention and erasure that occurs through the addition of newly painted layers and details, eschewing new sceneries. The artist employs a temporary covering method, using pieces of tape to protect certain areas of the canvas and thus allowing her to make decisions asynchronously. A painting by Laguna must be thus seen as a storyline of painterly actions in which nothing is erased, and everything is accumulation.

Lucia Laguna was born in Campos dos Goytacazes (Rio de Janeiro) in 1941. In 1971 she received a degree in Portuguese and began her career as a teacher. In the mid-nineties she attended workshops on painting and art history at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, in Rio de Janeiro, she had her first solo show in 1998. In 2006, she was awarded the Marcantônio Vilaça Prize from CNI SESI. Recent standout exhibitions include: Lucia Laguna, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel (2020) Vizinhança, MASP (São Paulo, 2018); and Enquanto bebo a água, a água me bebe, MAR (Rio de Janeiro, 2016). Among her most important participations in group shows are: 30^th Bienal de São Paulo (2012), 32^nd Panorama da Arte Brasileira, MAM-SP (2011), Programa Rumos Artes Visuais do Itaú Cultural (São Paulo, 2005–2006). The work of Lucia Laguna is featured in prominent public collections such as MASP, MAM-SP, MAM-RJ and MAR.