Amongst the Skyskrapers of São Paulo

Alex Honrest - image from outside of Museo Afro Brasil, Parque do Ipirapuera, São Paulo

A few days on after Camilla and my exhibition at Comuna and here I am amongst the super-high sky-scrpaers of São Paulo, staying with my brother’s soon-to-be-mother-in-law Margot.  Margot is a wonderful woman with Japanese heritage and Brazilian born and raised who has lived in Englad for 30-odd years so speaks Portuguese, Japanese and English. Margot is mother to my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Amanda, and is very kindly putting me up for these few days visiting the city.

Walter Firmo "We Brazilian Afrodescendents" - part of the 'eco exhibition' on the exterior walls of the Museo Afro Brasil in the culture-brimming Ibirapuera Park.

There was a really inspiring exhibition inside the Museo Afro Brasil of photographs by Hans Silvester of the Omo People from Ethiopian documenting their use of body paint and foliage that I can already feel adding to the brew of an idea that I will come back to later. ;-) 

So far the weather has been rainy and drizzly, but by borrowing a very large and sturdy umbrella from Margot I have been happily getting out-and-about walking the streets and visiting galleries and museums in the center and in nearby Parque do Ibirapuera, which is brilliant and full of life in all its greenery, families, joggers, skaters, rollerbladers, cyclists.

I´ve had a good introduction to the centre alongside Felipe Cidade, a fantastic contemporary Brazilian artist who is another great friend from the Curatoria Forense Social Summer Camp residency in Villa Alegre in Chile back in February.  I also happily caught with a good old friend from the Central St. Martin´s Character Animation course back in 2006, Braizilian Daniel who is a fantastic 3D animator currently working on a feature length film in the Magdalena district of São Paulo.  Daniel also told me the great news that he is expecting his second baby in just one months time.. Congratulations! Daniel was also interesting to chat to about the demonstrations, as he believes that there are genuine changes being made.  Some laws have already been altered and an old politician sent to jail for corruption.

Some highlights from the gallery visits when I was a-wandering myself:

Mural that I reckon must be by the Brazilian grafiti twins "Os Gêmeos", outisde the Museo de Arte Moderna in Parque do Ibirapuera that was closed when I passed by.  Happy to see this on the outside wall though!

 Paintings by Fransisco da Silva, whose intricately woven brightly coloured textures had me hypnotised! At the Museo Afro Brasil, Parque do Ibirapuera.

Two images that drew my eye for their heavily textured feminine and flower-like forms,  by Henri-Georges Adam: Julho 1951 (left) and Agosto 1952 (right) seen at the Museo de Arte Contemporãnea.

I think my favourite exhibition of all, for its bright, Brazilian explosion of colour and for the ingenuity of the products on display was the "Design da Periferia" (Design from the Periphery) at the museum space the Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras (Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures).  This exhibition was full of pieces made by ordinary people for use in their day-to-day lives, many making clever use of discarded materials to create functional objects and tools. There were toys, coffee carts, sweet carriers, flyers, furniture, lamps, even bins made from old tyres.  Many of the pieces came from Salvador in Bahia, further north in Brazil, which has me day-dreaming of traveling there one day (and even further north to the Amazon!)

(left) door-mat-shoe-scraper made from old metal bottle tops (right) Photo by local Adenor Gondim documenting the hand-painted booths typical of Salvador's festive fairs. Exhibition notes explain that in the late 1990's this style was banned, and wooden stalls replaced by plastic.

Inspiration for future art workshops:(Left and below) Getúlio Demado, Rio De Janeiro 2012, a mixture of recycled materials used to create representations of male and female figures. (right) car made out of old plastic bottles. 

Will look forward to making colourful characters like these with kids of future workshops! :-)

The Park Woven by Hand, handmade fabrics produced by artisans from Muquém in Minas Gerais, in partnership with Renato Imbroisi. This space inside the Brazilian Cultures Pavilion was filled with handwwoven trees reflecting the species growing all around in the Ibirapuera Park outside. 

Lucian Freud exhibition "Corpos e Rostros" (Bodies and Faces) at Museu de Arte de São Paulo MASP, I love these two paintings for their use of symbolistic objects: (left) Naked Girl with Egg the eggs representing fertility  - why is the one egg split into two yolks? and (right) Girl with Roses,the rose apparently signnifying pregnancy - so why the second broken rose fallen in the lap?

This has also been a chance to catch up on editing and writing work, and starting to look towards heading back to the UK in less than two weeks.

Big love from São Paulo

:-)


Graffiti that caught my eye in São Paulo (left to right) 
"3.20 NO" (referring to the recent hike in bus fares to 3.20 that triggered the manifestations and has since been dropped back) / 
"LOVE" /
"Throw out prejudice here"
:-)