Laerte Ramos explores versions of works with the same themes, privileging unconventional materials in contemporary art
The Centro MariAntonia da USP opens, on June 22, at 6 pm, the exhibition Versus, individual by the artist Laerte Ramos, which brings an unprecedented set of works that transit between ceramics and tapestry. The curator ship is the researcher Ana Carla Soler. Admission is free and visitation is held from Tuesday to Sunday and holidays, at 10 am to 6 pm.
Ramos exposes a set of 100 weapons developed in ceramics that are divided into two faces that point against each other, having a twisted explosion at the end of all weapons that aim from opposite sides. Colored, returning to the toy colors of his original pieces, the artist resumes this theme using the same patterns of the work Arma branca (2010), winner of the Prêmio Marcantônio Vilaça in 2012.
According to the artist, the main axis of his research are the reproductive means of the image, the seriations in different media and the relationship with the cities in which they are produced or exposed. Ramos points out that “I make versions with the same themes and deepen my research in layers that enhance techniques and improvements of unconventional materials in contemporary art”.
In Versus, Ramos brings two tapestries, one in dyed wool using the Smirna cross stitch, and the second tapestry crossing techniques of combing liço with threads of beads creating a work that challenges the act of weaving and weaving taking the beads to another level.
Estas tapeçarias fazem parte da série Nós do Caos, um leque que se abre na pesquisa de Laerte que busca as relações entre o pixel e o nó, utilizando computador para desenhar e o tear e a tela para tramar. Esta série é um desdobramento de outras obras que o artista explora a impressão lenticular em uma vertente das obras e em outras a lã de carneiro onde trama os trabalhos utilizando o pé e folhas de bambu.
These tapestries are part of the Nós do Caos series, a fan that opens in Laerte’s research that seeks the relationships between the pixel and the knot, using computer to draw and the loom and the screen to weave. This series is an unfolding of other works that the artist explores the lenticular printing in one strand of the works and in others the sheep wool where he weaves the works using the wood and bamboo leaves.
The artist also presents his almanacs available for free download, soundtrack for visitation of the exhibition and documentaries of the productions of the works as tools to approach the public to their poetics and contemporary art in general.
Who is Laerte Ramos?
He stands out in the panorama of Brazilian contemporary art especially for his production in engraving and ceramic installations. He works with several languages such as woodcut, screen printing, painting, sculpture, tapestry, objects, using techniques and materials that challenge him as an artist-researcher.
With a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP), his works exceed the character of mere unitary pieces and cross different languages to modify their understanding and the space in which they are inserted.
Since the second half of the 1990s, Laerte Ramos has participated in important collective exhibitions and in the last 26 years has held several solo exhibitions in Brazil and abroad.
He participated in artistic residency programs (France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal and China) and was awarded prizes, including the Swiss Lelocleprints Award (2004), the Prêmio Marcantônio Vilaça – Pró Cultura/ MinC (2012 and 2013 editions) and the Prêmio Mostras de Artistas no Exterior da Fundação Bienal de São Paulo/ Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Arts (2011).
Represented Brazil at Expo Milano/2015 with a large ceramic installation that occupied the Octógono da Pinacoteca de São Paulo the previous year.
He has 51 solo exhibitions, 7 participations in artistic residencies and 32 awards as an artist. As a curator, Laerte has 10 exhibitions and two awards, highlighting the Prêmio Marcantônio Vilaça in 2020 with the exhibition Compreensão do Ar ou (E = M2).
He has also been a curator since 2017 and is currently director of Ar: Acervo Rotativo – an independent collection of contemporary art in small dimensions. At the head of the production company Studium Generale, she enables several fronts of knowledge exchange with residence in her studio and exhibition projects among other cultural partnerships.
Service
Exhibition Versus, de Laerte Ramos
Opening June 22 – from 6 pm
Where | Centro MariAntonia da USP – Edifício Joaquim Nabuco
Rua Maria Antônia, 258 – Vila Buarque – São Paulo, SP (near the Higienópolis and Santa Cecília metro stations)
When | From 22 June to 10 September 2023
Visitation | Tuesday to Sunday and holidays, from 10 am to 6 pm
Classification| Free
How much | Free
Informations | (11) 3123-5202
Translated by: Lara Yoshime Shizuko Fukushima