The work of Brígida Baltar spans across a wide range of medium, which includes video, performance, installation, drawing, and sculpture. According to curator Lisette Lagnado, through this practice, ‘the artist strives to return to a pre-industrial, childlike and primitive narration.’ Baltar's artistic production began in the 1990s with the so-called small poetic gestures, developed in her studio-home in Botafogo, a neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro.
Read MoreDuring almost ten years, the artist collected items of domestic life such as the water dripping through small cracks on her roof, or dust falling from the bricks of her walls. This act of collecting subsequently expanded into the streets, giving birth to the 'Coletas' series, an attempt of capturing mist, dew and ocean breeze–an ultimately impossible or rather, intangible task.
Brigida Baltar's recent work derives from her older series, as she uses the previously collected brick dust to draw images of Rio de Janeiro, creating pieces that intertwine her past and present works and that do not function as mere representations. More recently, Baltar has been reflecting upon her own biography and producing embroideries which relate to her body, more specifically her skin.
Brígida Baltar was born in 1959, in Rio de Janeiro, where she lives and works. Her recent solo shows include: Dois vídeos, at Galeria Gustavo Schnoor (2019), Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; A carne do mar, at Galeria Nara Roesler (2018), in São Paulo, Brazil; SAM Art Project (2012), in Paris, France; and O amor do pássaro rebelde, at Cavalariças (2012), Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV Parque Lage), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her work featured in recent group shows, such as: I Remember Earth, at Magasin des Horizons (2019), Centre d'arts et de cultures, in Grenoble, France; Studiolo XXI–Desenhos e afinidades, at Fundação Eugénio de Almeida Centro de Arte e Cultura (2019), in Évora, Portugal; Abstracción textil \ Textile Abstraction, at Galería Casas Riegner (2018), in Bogotá, Colombia; Neither-nor: Abstract Landscapes, Portraits and Still Lives, at Terra-Art Project (2017), in London, UK; International Series: Contemporary Artists from Brazil, at Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (2016), in Boone, USA. Her work is part of important collections, such as: Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC USP), São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Houston, USA; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, among others.
Text courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler.
