ART CITIES:Rio de Janeiro-Paulo Bruscky

Paulo Bruscky is one of the world’s first artists to manipulate the xerox machine as an aesthetic device. He has played a critical role in bringing major international artistic movements to Brazil, including Fluxus, Mail Art, and Performance. Throughout his career, he has produced works inspired by everyday experiences that challenge audiences to think about how the world unfolds around them. He has continuously addressed the anonymity and alienation of the individual in the urban landscape, countering that experience with humor, irony, and caustic wit.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galeria Nara Roesler Archive

The exhibition “rec/rio”, features 90 works by Paulo Bruscky at Galeria Nara Roesler in Rio de Janeiro, focuses on  three themes: works proposed to the city of Rio but never realized, works created while in Rio, and works produced specifically for exhibition.  Paulo Bruscky, emerged on the Brazilian art scene in the late ‘60s, one of the nation’s darkest periods of military dictatorship (1/4/64-15/3/85). Despite the harsh political climate, he resisted authoritarian structures, staging happenings and interventions and pushing the boundaries of experimentation through the employment of humor and wordplay. He never asked the government for permission to make his art, even when this led to imprisonment; and although many of his projects won important competitions, they almost always were censored. Featured in the exhibition are 50 of his proposals made to the city of Rio. Some have since been realized, such as “Fogueira de gelo”, which was completed during the 2010 São Paulo Biennial, but the majority remain unfinished. In response to this, the gallery is producing, for the first time, the work “Tiro ao alvo”. First proposed in 1971, the work consists of light, caught on mirrors, projecting itself, and turning on a radio as a result, the work can only be activated by the public playing the traditional children’s game from which takes its name. Also Bruscky presents a twist on the status quo, as seen in his feet selfies “Pés de Bruscky” ( I and II) or his firecracker paintings “Traques II”.

Info: Galeria Nara Roesler Rio de Janeiro, rua Redentor 241, Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Duration 30/7-22/9/16, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat 11:00-15:00, www.nararoesler.com.br