The relationship between figuration and abstraction are the uniting thread in the solo show by Cristina Canale, one of the foremost painters of our time.
The formal richness of the work of Cristina Canale, one of the foremost Brazilian painters in activity, can be seen up close in her new solo show at Galeria Nara Roesler. The exhibit opens on July 26, featuring approximately 12 pieces created in 2013 and 2014, and further highlighting the connections between figuration and abstraction that have driven the artist’s ceaseless research since 1993.
On conceptualizing the works in the show, Canale says: "I have strived to create territories of abstraction within a figurative context. These abstract areas arise, for instance, as backgrounds to the compositions, taking the place of an otherwise environmental context, or else they are contained within one of the elements in the painting – in the case of Menina e Vento, the woman’s dress – and thus become protagonists of the pieces. In other cases still, the geometrical is identified with a figurative element – as in the house-tent featured in the picture Casa Triângulo."
Thus, her recent output is based on the figure-abstraction pairing, with an emphasis on the organic-geometrical, subverting a division of abstract language into two distinct resources. "Abstraction as a language within Art History has developed towardsthe direction of the geometrical or the gestural. The areas where I employ geometrical reference also contain the gestural dimension, since the shapes receive an exclusive, not entirely graphical treatment. The idea is to confront the language of abstraction with that of figuration."
"This issue has been a part of my 'dramaturgy' since always, from different perspectives. What sets this group of works apart is the equivalence of weight between the figurate plane and abstract reference. Narrative in this series has also taken on abstract tones that are no longer literary. It is more about the atmosphere than the history,” the artist explains.
Cristina Canale was born in January, 1961. She lives and works out of Berlin. She has featured in group shows such as the 21st Biennial of São Paulo (1991); the 6th Curitiba Biennial (2011); Dentro do traço, mesmo (Iberê Camargo Foundation, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2009); and Da visualidade ao conceito (Tomie Ohtake Institute, São Paulo, Brazil, 2007). Solo shows include: Protagonista e domingo (Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, 2013); Sem palavras (Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil, 2011); and Arredores e rastros (Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2010). Brazilian institutions such as the São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pinacoteca); the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, among others, own artwork by her.
The artist get to the prominence as from her participation in the emblematic group exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?, at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV Parque Lage), Rio de Janeiro, in 1984. Like many of her colleagues of the so-called 'Generation 80', her early works denotes the influence of of painting resumption in the international context especially influenced by the tendency of German Neo-expressionism. Loaded with visual elements and volume of paint, her early paintings have a material appearance, distinguished by the intuitive use of contrasting and vivid colours that is remarkable in her works to this day. In the early 1990s, Canale moved to Germany, studying in Düsseldorf under the guidance of the Dutch conceptual artist Jan Dibbets. Her compositions pass to acquiring spatiality, with the suggestion of planes and depths, and greater fluidity in the use of colours.
Founded in São Paulo in 1989, Galeria Nara Roesler is a leading Brazilian gallery dedicated to showing the work of contemporary Brazilian and international artists. The gallery established another branch in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, followed by its first international outpost in New York City in 2015.
