Individual exhibition "LuzCaiada" by André Ricardo

The André Ricardo exhibition: LuzCaiada is part of the program celebrating 20 years of Station Gallery. The artist's second solo show in the space based in the Pinheiros neighborhood, in São Paulo, LuzCaiada brings together 20 new paintings, of different formats, recently created with one of the hallmarks of art production. Andre Ricardo, developed over almost 15 years of research: the use of tempera paint applied to linen canvases manufactured by the artist himself. In LuzCaiada's presentation text, the exhibition's curator, Igor Simões, highlights that the liquefied density of egg tempera given to André Ricardo's paintings was also one of the inspirations for the exhibition's title.

“It’s as if the paint was whitewashing the plane. Whitewashing as residents of the interior or suburbs do when they coat the facades of houses with another type of whitewash that make the streets a particular experience of color. A light that emerges from the lime. LuzCaiada, all together, plays with inventing something that seems to evoke a movement, a way of being color, light. The name also reflects a particular way of dealing with paint, support and painting. First of all, it works as an invitation to understand painting as a place of encounter for oneself and accessed memories that come from the artist and also reverberate in others. (…) These paintings are complex because they contain a set of sensitive geometries that result from the purification of forms in the world. In this artist's game, geometry is also a sensation of the world. An affective geometry that is never hard. She is ethereal, luminous”, argues Simões.

Mastering the technique of tempera painting, established since the Renaissance, in the 14th century, and which consists of the use of paints with natural pigments bound in egg yolk, is also one of the artist's characteristics extolled by the partner and co-founder of Galeria Estação, Vilma Eid.

“Since his first exhibition, in 2021, we have experienced many joys with André. His artistic growth is notable and can be accompanied by the great individual and collective performances in which he has been invited to participate in Brazil, the United States and Europe. The production we are showing now is the result of a year of research alternating with important exhibitions at partner institutions and art galleries. Watching him work is a pleasure. His tempering technique is exquisite”, says Vilma.

LuzCaiada also highlights the influence of one of the masters of Brazilian art, Rubem Valentim (1922 -1991), on André Ricardo's production. Between April 25 and May 20, 2024, in fact, the poetic dialogue between them was evidenced in England, through the works gathered in the exhibition André Ricardo & Rubem Valentim: Dialogues, promoted by LAMB Arts Gallery.

At the opening of the exhibition, emphasizing that his youngest son Valentim was named in honor of the Bahian painter, André Ricardo wrote a letter to Rubem Valentim. “(…) I remember how revealing it was to realize that painting is like taking an internal journey, shedding light on a painting that I already carry. Visiting this heritage is an affirmation of the right to memory, fundamental in the construction of our identity. Seeing the work of another artist is also a way of accessing this place. His work, Rubem, never ceases to provoke me in this sense, echoing deeply with each encounter with it”, defended the artist in one of the excerpts of the letter.

Represented by Estação since 2019, André Ricardo argues that his relationship with the gallery goes far beyond marketing issues and reflects an emotional framework of a much more subjective dimension in his artistic training.

“Before being an artist at the gallery, I was a regular at their exhibitions and learned a lot from them because I had the opportunity to meet wonderful figures, such as Véio, Neves Torres, Chico Tabibuia, Alcides, Mirian and Conceição dos Bugres. It was a process that greatly influenced what I do today, as it made me think about other references and not only speculate about a Brazilian or Latin American visuality, but, above all, speculate about an identity. I believe that painting is a path to self-knowledge and that it also takes us to a dimension of returning to a heritage, to a primordial place”, explains the artist.

For those who saw the first exhibition, André Ricardo: Paintings, he warns that echoes of the works from the 2021 exhibition will be noticeable, but with new elements and developments both in terms of composition and colors.

“The exhibition basically brings together two sets of paintings. One of them is linked to my interest in Brazilian vernacular architecture, especially the facades with platbands that are very characteristic of the interior of Brazil and the Northeast. The other is a series that originated from a drawing made by observing a pedestal with light cannons. A curious composition, which favored a very varied research on a subject that is very dear to painting, which is light and the phenomenon of color perception because, although we know that painting is a two-dimensional plane, our eye never stops of seeking depth and never seeing everything at once. Hence the title of the exhibition also came from”, concludes André.

Service
Exhibition | LuzCaiada
From August 06th to October 05th
Monday to Friday, 11:19 am to 11:15 pm, Saturdays, XNUMX:XNUMX am to XNUMX:XNUMX pm