Exhibition "neither more nor less, recent paintings" by Carlos Zilio

A Raquel Arnaud Gallery presents the solo exhibition no more, no less, recent paintings, Carlos Zilio, which brings together a collection of previously unseen works that delve into central themes of his artistic career. Curated by Thaddeus ChiarelliThe exhibition highlights a unique moment in the artist's production, in which painting asserts itself as a field of investigation into its own limits, continuously challenging the relationship between representation, space, and perception.

Recognized for a body of work that has been dedicated for decades to critically examining the history and codes of painting, Zilio presents works that revisit and expand upon discussions developed over the past few years. While a significant part of his career has been marked by an analytical approach to the language of painting, the works gathered in this exhibition reveal an openness to new possibilities, in which painting incorporates a more complex dimension of presence, memory, and visual construction.

According to the curator, Tadeu Chiarelli, the recent collection of works allows us to understand Zilio's painting as a form of drama. Not a narrative or figurative drama, associated with the representation of events and characters, but a drama inherent to the very condition of painting: its permanent oscillation between asserting itself as a two-dimensional surface and suggesting the possibility of a space beyond it.

The exhibition is conceived from the work “Absence” (2022), previously presented in the retrospective dedicated to the artist by Itaú Cultural. In it, the silhouette of an anteater, a recurring figure in Zilio's production during the 2010s, appears almost completely absorbed by a black field. The painting marks an important transition in his trajectory and establishes a link between previous investigations and his most recent works.

In the works presented here, the artist focuses his research on the relationship between black and white, exploring contrasts, juxtapositions, and tensions that activate the observer's perception. Rigorous monochromatic fields coexist with compositions in which lines, gaps, and interruptions suggest possible depths, without abandoning the awareness of the surface as a fundamental element of painting.

By limiting his color palette and reducing visual elements to the essentials, Zilio creates works that operate between presence and absence, visibility and concealment. The pictorial space ceases to be merely a plane and becomes a territory of dispute between what is shown and what remains only suggested. The works do not seek to represent an external reality, but to investigate the very possibility of representation.

Exhibition | no more, no less, recent paintings
From June 10th to August 22st
Monday to Friday, from 11 am to 19 pm; Saturdays, from 11 am to 15 pm.