Art

46 www.timeout.com.br/sao-paulo/en February 2012

Major institutionsCaixa Cultural Owned by the Caixa Econômica Federal bank, this gallery contains 2,000 artworks including paintings, sculptures and carvings by generations of Brazilian artists. Praça da Sé 111, Centro (3321 4400/caixacultural.com.br) Open 9am-9pm Tue-Sun.Instituto Tomie Ohtake Housed in an imposing dark glass skyscraper intertwined with steel waves of purple and maroon, and named after the Japanese-Brazilian artist, the Instituto dominates the Pinheiros skyline. It was designed by her son, Ruy Ohtake, one of Brazil’s most equally loved and hated architects, and isn’t afraid to shock with challenging exhibitions. Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 201, Pinheiros (2245 1900/institutotomieohtake.org.br). Open 11am-8pm Tue-Sun. Itaú Cultural This bank-owned modern cultural centre is smack on the Avenida Paulista, and features a mix of edgy art, traditional, more didactic exhibitions, and major practitioners on Brazil’s national scene. It also has a very useful library, complete with an audiovisual collection. Avenida Paulista 149, Bela Vista (2168 1700/itaucultural.org.br). Open 9am-8pm Tue-Fri; 11am-8pm Sat, Sun.Museu da Imagem e do Som (MIS) A makeover in 2008 revitalised this stark, concrete building, which is home to a collection of 30,000 items in the shape of photos, films and records. It also stages innovative temporary exhibitions and retrospectives, such as winter 2010’s lively international multimedia spectacle ‘ROJO®NOVA – Cultura Contemporânea’, by Spanish art magazine Rojo. Avenida Europa 158, Jardim Europa (2117 4777/mis-sp.org.br). Open noon-10pm Tue-Sat; 11am-9pm Sun. Admission R$4; R$2 reductions; seniors free. Free to all Sun. No credit cards. Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC) The MAC contains over 10,000 works by the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Tarsila do Amaral, Portinari and Di Cavalcanti on its two sites. The largest is on the University of São Paulo campus in Cidade Universitária, while its smaller, more easily reached space

in beautiful Ibirapuera Park showcases key Brazilian artists and movements. Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, 3rd floor, Rua Pedro Álvares Cabral, Parque Ibirapuera (5573 9932/mac.usp.br). Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sun. Other location Cidade Universitária, Rua da Praça do Relógio 160 (3091 3039/mac.usp.br). Open 10am-4pm Sat, Sun, public holidays. Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) São Paulo’s flagship museum is an imposing red concrete-and-glass box suspended on four concrete columns, which dominates Avenida Paulista. Inside, it’s the Greatest Hits of World Art, Vols. 1-10. There’s a Picasso, a Gainsborough, a Hieronymus Bosch and a Goya, as well as big Brazilian names like Cândido Portinari and Anita Malfatti. In short, it’s the best collection of European and Brazilian art in South America – even if only around 500 of the museum’s 7,000 works are on show at any given time. Avenida Paulista 1578 (3251 5644/masp.art.br). Metrô 2, Trianon-MASP. Open 11am-6pm Tue-Sun (ticket office closes 5pm); 11am-8pm Thu (ticket office closes 7pm). Admission R$15; R$7 reductions. Free to all Tue. Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) Founded in 1948 and based on New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the MAM contains over 5,000 works by acclaimed Brazilian artists of the likes of Regina Silveira, Cildo Meireles and Leonilson. Its mission is to showcase contemporary and modern Brazilian art, and it also has a 6,000-square-metre sculpture garden. Rua Pedro Álvares Cabral, Parque Ibirapuera (5085 1300/mam.org.br). Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sun. Admission R$5.50; free reductions. Free to all Sun.Museu Lasar Segall A jewel in São Paulo’s roster of museums, the Museu Lasar Segall is the former home of Lithuanian-born Modernist artist Lasar Segall, who moved to Brazil in 1923. Established in 1967, ten years after Segall’s death, the multi-use space encompasses a printing workshop, small cinema, café and temporary exhibition spaces as well as a semi-permanent collection of Segall’s paintings, sculpture and furniture, created throughout his career. Rua Berta 111, Vila Mariana (5574 7322/museusegall.org.br). Metrô 1, Vila Mariana. Open 11am-7pm Mon; 11am-7pm Wed-Sun .Pinacoteca do Estado São Paulo’s oldest, most traditional major institution was designed in 1897 by Ramos de Azevedo, and originally housed São Paulo’s first art school. In 1997, the architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha renovated the eclectic neoclassical building, stripping it of its stucco and unveiling a stunning columned palace in exposed brick. Many of the most important Brazilian modernists are on display inside, Cândido Portinari, Anita Malfatti and Di Cavalcanti included. Praça da Luz, Luz (3324 1000/pinacoteca.org.br) Metrô 1, Luz. Open 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun. Admission R$6; students R$3. Free to all Sat. No credit cards.

Other location Estação Pinacoteca, Largo General Osório 66, Centro (3335 4990). Open 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun. Admission Included in Pinacoteca admission price.

Art listingsHow to use the listingsThis section rounds up a rotating selection of the city’s best galleries, with major institutions (art museums and publicly and privately owned collections) first, then commercial galleries, the latter ordered by area.

Listings are chosen at the editors’ discretion, and Time Out São Paulo does not accept compensation of any kind in exchange for listing events or venues. Times and other details can change at short notice, so it’s a good idea to call ahead and check.

Brígida Baltar – ‘Voar’

CM Gorey looks forward to two of the month’s best-looking art events

Take a panoramic view of what Brazilian contemporary artists are up to in this major exhibition at Itaú – a true ‘Convite à Viagem’ or ‘Invitation to Travel’, featuring artists from all over Brazil.

More than 1,770 projects were submitted for the show, from which curator Agnaldo Farias selected just over a hundred works. Look out for the surprising

Opening at Nara Roesler this month, carioca Brígida Baltar’s Voar (‘Fly’) aims for the sky, exploring aspects of flight in a mix of multimedia pieces and playful sculptures.

The centrepiece of the show is a video in which a conductor leads an invisible choir through a piece of music composed for the artwork. The unseen singers repeat the word voar, changing the pitch, tone and volume in an echo of the rising and falling of flight – but is it a bit of

images created with Post-it notes by Paraíba’s Íris Helena, and Rio Grande do Sul’s Nara Amélia, whose drawings appear to have been taken from a naive and hauntingly odd scrapbook. Other pieces – like the frantic, nightmare painting of Thiago Martins de Melo’s A Herança de Inoco ou a Cama de Ulisses comprise the more frightening, but no less worthwhile, aspects of the cultural trip.

Convite à Viagem is at Itaú Cultural from 9 February until 22 April. See listings.

a stretch? Other works are more concrete

in their interpretation of the theme. The playful Escultura Alada (‘Winged Sculpture’) adds a cock’s comb and comical beak to a classical figurine, splashing bright colours onto the pale statuette, while a set of videos continues the soaring motif, with images of clouds and an interplay of light and dark. But there’s a twist: the films are projected inside balsa-wood miniatures – dollhouse-sized dioramas – to rows of tiny seats.

Beyond the theme of flight, it’s hard to ignore Baltar’s David Lynch-like obsession with theatres. Much like the director’s trope of including a moment in his films in which a chanteuse takes to a velvet-curtained stage, in Baltar’s use of theatres it’s as if she is admitting that her works demonstrate a certain level of theatricality. To that end, she’s right to ask, ‘What’s more exciting than taking off in flight?’

Voar is at Galeria Nara Roesler, from 7 February until 7 March. See listings.

Convite à Viagem – Rumos Artes Visuais 2011/2013

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Hazy shades Rafael Pagatini’s bleary and restless ‘Neblina’