Exhibition "The Invention of Paradise: Gabriela Melzer & Ygor Landarin"

What remains of a place when it is traversed by memory? How does the landscape continue to transform when it also comes to exist in the realm of imagination? These questions run through... The Invention of Paradise: Gabriela Melzer & Ygor Landarin, an exhibition that brings the two artists into dialogue, for the first time, in the main spaces of Galatea SalvadorThe opening takes place during the celebrations of Independence of Bahia, a period in which the city revisits its history and reaffirms its cultural power.

Taking the idea of ​​paradise as a symbolic, provisional, and subjective construct, the exhibition brings into dialogue two research projects that investigate the relationships between matter and transformation. Although they start from distinct languages, Melzer and Landarin share an interest in elements of the visible world, such as geological formations, marine organisms, reliefs, architectures, and material vestiges, which are continually reworked in their works.

Gabriela Melzer continues the investigation she has been developing in recent years around abstraction, color, and perception. In her paintings, references observed in nature and the built landscape are transformed into compositions marked by organic contours and the construction of interior landscapes.

Part of the work stems from observing the architecture of Salvador and the wear and tear caused by the action of the climate on its surfaces. Instead of direct representation, Melzer converts these references into pictorial structures in which organic forms, chromatic fields, and linear systems coexist in constant negotiation. Sinuous lines traverse areas of color organized by modular divisions, producing compositions that balance control and improvisation, stability and change.

His paintings are constructed through the superimposition of successive layers of paint, to which are added gestures made with oil sticks that record movements and rhythms on the surface. In Drawings (2026), a series made with oil sticks on canvas, Melzer intensifies the presence of drawing and deepens an investigation focused on aspects that escape immediate observation. Lines and fields of color are organized into compositions that invite prolonged observation.

Regarding her creative process, Gabriela Melzer states: “In my works, my goal is not merely to represent the world, but to explore these gaps—places where the physical and the non-physical touch, creating a reality that we feel but do not see. This is a quest to open spaces that everyone can access, even if they are not clearly delineated. It's about allowing ourselves to feel beyond what we are used to, together, and finding a way to give form to what would normally go unnoticed.”

Ygor Landarin presents works born from his interest in the places he encounters throughout his life and the traces that remain within them. Embroidery, sculpture, and materials such as sand, cold porcelain, and cement appear as tools to investigate relationships between matter, time, and memory. In many of his works, archaeological references, shell mounds, and sambaquis serve as a starting point.

Part of this production was developed for the exhibition after a research period in Salvador, when Landarin collected samples on the city's beaches and expanded his contact with local references. The work of Juarez Paraíso becomes a central reference in the construction of Paraízo (2026), which brings together sand, shells, sea urchins, and stones. The work transforms these elements into a kind of affective cartography of the city, constructed from vestiges, displacements, and the marks left by the passage of time on the Salvadoran landscape.

The exhibition also marks the beginning of Ygor Landarin's representation by Galatea. At a time of growing institutional prominence, the artist will be part of the 39th Panorama of Brazilian Art: After Everything Was Said exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo in 2026, and was nominated for the Pipa Prize. His artistic production is also part of the collection of the Rio Art Museum.

Even though they start from different practices, Melzer and Landarin share overlapping aesthetic interests. In their artistic research, matter is always in transformation, accumulating and modifying over time and across territories. Paradise, here, moves between the real and the imagined, not as an idealized place, but as an experience in constant flux, where images emerge as a result of operations that articulate memory, observation, and imagination.

The exhibition program also includes a conversation with Camila Yunes Guarita – founder of Kura and one of Brazil's leading art advisors – alongside Gabriela Melzer and Ygor Landarin. The meeting will be an opportunity to explore the paths that led to the exhibition, highlighting the connections between the artists' research and how their experiences in Salvador are reflected in the works presented. The event will take place on July 3rd at 16:30 PM, shortly before the opening, in the gallery's main space.

Service
Exhibition | The Invention of Paradise: Gabriela Melzer & Ygor Landarin
From July 03th to October 10th
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Friday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Saturday, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM