Exhibition "Holidays Forever", by Tiago Carneiro da Cunha

Forts D'Aloia & Gabriel presents Vacation Forever, individual exhibition of Tiago Carneiro da CunhaBringing together a new set of paintings, the exhibition by the São Paulo-born artist, now based in Rio de Janeiro, unfolds through enigmatic scenes in which states of leisure, pleasure, and repose become increasingly difficult to distinguish from images of collapse, disappearance, or death. Reclining bodies appear throughout the works, scattered across beaches, gardens, streets, and interiors, their immobility suspended between vacation and catastrophe. At once humorous, unsettling, and theatrical, the paintings resist fixed narratives, allowing moments of idleness, vulnerability, and absurdity to compose a... pinboard open to multiple interpretations.

All the paintings are produced in a recurring format, sharing the same dimensions, as variations within the same formal and conceptual structure. The compositions open up to vast spaces that oscillate between landscape and theatrical setting, as Carneiro da Cunha's panoramic framing creates a visual field in which foreground and background become equivalent protagonists. Leaning coconut trees echo the postures of the figures, while dramatic twilights, concentrated spotlights, and marked spatial constructions give many scenes an almost self-illuminating quality. The exhibition includes two distinct interpretations of Pietà...bringing together one of the central motifs of the classical tradition of images drawn from contemporary life. Throughout Vacation ForeverIdyllic and urban settings coexist and influence each other, enlivened by references to the visual culture and everyday atmosphere of Rio de Janeiro. Together, these paintings explore the uncertain territory where spectacle and intimacy, humor and melancholy, eternal vacation and final rest begin to blur.

Among his recent solo exhibitions, the following stand out. Damned Comedy, Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo (2023) and Green Galaxy, Misako & Rosen, Tokyo (2022). She also participated in group exhibitions. Terraphilia: Beyond the Human in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2025),  Gross State, at the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro (2021) and The Imminence of Poetics – 30th São Paulo Biennial (2012). The artist has works in important public collections, including the SFMoMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in San Francisco; TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, Madrid; the Saatchi Collection, in London; the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio); the Museum of Art of Rio (MAR); and the Arizona State University Art Museum, in Tempe.

The exhibition is accompanied by a text by Gabriel Secchin.

Service
Exhibition | Vacation Forever
From June 27th to August 29th
Tuesday to Friday, from 10 am to 19 pm; Saturday, from 10 am to 18 pm.