MARCELO CIPIS

Lives and works in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

With a career spanning over 40 years, Marcelo Cipis moves through several languages,including painting, drawing, collage, installation, and sculpture. He had his degree in architecturefrom FAU-USP – School of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo and began hisactivities as an editorial illustrator in 1977. In 1982, he spent a decisive period in Europe, where hevisited several museums that redirected his gaze and changed his relationship with painting.

He went back to Brazil and developed his practice alongside Dudi Maia Rosa (1946). In 1987and 1988, he held his first solo exhibitions at Fundação Cásper Líbero and Galeria Documenta, in SãoPaulo. Cipis participated in the 20th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo (1989) with the group showArte em jornal [Art in Newspaper] and, in 1991, in the 21st edition of the event with the installationCipis Transworld, Art, Industry & Commerce, where he created a stand for a fictitious multinationalcompany. He participated in the 4th and 5th editions of the Havana Biennial (1991 and 1994). As anillustrator, he won the Jabuti Award in 1994 for the cover of the book Como Água para Chocolate[Like Water for Chocolate], by Laura Esquivel, published by Editora Martins Fontes.

Cipis is a versatile artist – although his main support is paper and canvas, he is not limited bythe surface, seeking multiple possibilities in the materials. He also has extensive experience as abook writer and illustrator. In 1998, he held the solo exhibition Marcelo Cipis: desenhos, at CasaTriângulo. Since the 2000s, when he won the important prize of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation inNew York, he has exhibited his works in galleries and institutions around the world.

His recent exhibitions include the solo shows Enjoy, at Bergamin & Gomide (São Paulo, 2021);The Wonderful Cipis Transworld, at Spike Art Quarterly (Berlin, 2017) and Marcelo Cipis & ThomazRosa, at BFA Boatos Fine Arts (Milan, 2016), as well as his participation in the 14th Curitiba Biennial in2019, with paintings from the Drops series. In 2023, he made Dois pra cá, dois pra lá (with YuliYamagata), at Carpintaria, in Rio de Janeiro.

Text courtesy Gomide&Co.