Inés Lombardi
27 Jun - 20 Sep 2014
INÉS LOMBARDI
transient stage
27 June - 20 September 2014
The exhibition Transient Stage by Brazilian artist Inés Lombardi plays with the symbolization of a wide-reaching, transient and ever-renewing concept of “now” – a presentness which also includes the past, springing from it and yet always remaining inscrutable. The base material for Lombardi's current artistic exploration is provided by layers of color found in the residence of Olivo Gomes in Sao Paulo, brought to light through the archeological chromatic prospection of the Brazilian Agency of Historic Preservation. Variously nuanced color tones have been used to paint the interior and exterior of the residence since its erection in 1950, and they are preserved in multiple layers, most of which are no longer openly visible today. Tiny, barely perceivable displacements of color tone – arising through overpainting and the passage of time – make visible the inexorable process of continual transformation. A total of 54 colors differentiated by the Pantone palette make it possible to gaze into a past that also comprises the present and an as yet unknown future.
In the gallery's entry area, Lombardi draws attention to a wooden construction referencing a temporary presentation by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi for the collection of the MASP. It displays two large-format montages, each of them consisting of 54 square fields. The first montage brings together monochromatic Pantone color panels in an arrangement that at points is interrupted by detail photos of the residence's interior and exterior. The second montage corresponds to the first, but in reverse: views of the house and garden dominate, with monochromatic surfaces interspersed at points. The resulting complementarity of the two works proposes a correspondence between colors and photographs, evoking multifarious and hybrid relationships between inside and outside, past and present, hidden and visible, architecture and nature.
On the lower level Lombardi continues to explore the idea of complementarity, here transposing her thoughts into three dimensions. The rooms, painted from floor to ceiling in bright orange and light green, become independent color objects, accenting the visitor's dual role as both subject and object of observation. Inés Lombardi issues an open invitation to reflect on the concepts of beholder, artwork and space, and to consider the relationship between the individual and the world as an interplay between inner and outer perception.
Lombardi uses the gallery's main room for an examination of the dichotomy between interior and exterior. Here the context is again provided by Olivo Gomes' house, which she observes through its transparent surfaces. The photographs show transparent walls, windows and glass doors, and are taken both from inside looking out and from the garden looking into the house. These images provide the basic material for 54 overprinted monochromatic Pantone prints. One gets the feeling that Inés Lombardi is endeavoring to make conscious a small segment of the unfathomable: just as our gaze through the glass of a closed window does not allow complete sensory perception of the reality behind it, presentness can only be captured incompletely. Like the passing sky, which is ever offering us new visual phenomena, the video in the final room shows us a continual transformation and movement that is just as transitory as our present. Thus the title Transient Stage references a fundamental premise of Lombardi's work: the understanding of human perception as a process of perpetual change. The exhibition context is used as a temporary stage upon which the artist seeks to make this process visible.
Text: Julia Loeschl
Translation: Christopher Barber
transient stage
27 June - 20 September 2014
The exhibition Transient Stage by Brazilian artist Inés Lombardi plays with the symbolization of a wide-reaching, transient and ever-renewing concept of “now” – a presentness which also includes the past, springing from it and yet always remaining inscrutable. The base material for Lombardi's current artistic exploration is provided by layers of color found in the residence of Olivo Gomes in Sao Paulo, brought to light through the archeological chromatic prospection of the Brazilian Agency of Historic Preservation. Variously nuanced color tones have been used to paint the interior and exterior of the residence since its erection in 1950, and they are preserved in multiple layers, most of which are no longer openly visible today. Tiny, barely perceivable displacements of color tone – arising through overpainting and the passage of time – make visible the inexorable process of continual transformation. A total of 54 colors differentiated by the Pantone palette make it possible to gaze into a past that also comprises the present and an as yet unknown future.
In the gallery's entry area, Lombardi draws attention to a wooden construction referencing a temporary presentation by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi for the collection of the MASP. It displays two large-format montages, each of them consisting of 54 square fields. The first montage brings together monochromatic Pantone color panels in an arrangement that at points is interrupted by detail photos of the residence's interior and exterior. The second montage corresponds to the first, but in reverse: views of the house and garden dominate, with monochromatic surfaces interspersed at points. The resulting complementarity of the two works proposes a correspondence between colors and photographs, evoking multifarious and hybrid relationships between inside and outside, past and present, hidden and visible, architecture and nature.
On the lower level Lombardi continues to explore the idea of complementarity, here transposing her thoughts into three dimensions. The rooms, painted from floor to ceiling in bright orange and light green, become independent color objects, accenting the visitor's dual role as both subject and object of observation. Inés Lombardi issues an open invitation to reflect on the concepts of beholder, artwork and space, and to consider the relationship between the individual and the world as an interplay between inner and outer perception.
Lombardi uses the gallery's main room for an examination of the dichotomy between interior and exterior. Here the context is again provided by Olivo Gomes' house, which she observes through its transparent surfaces. The photographs show transparent walls, windows and glass doors, and are taken both from inside looking out and from the garden looking into the house. These images provide the basic material for 54 overprinted monochromatic Pantone prints. One gets the feeling that Inés Lombardi is endeavoring to make conscious a small segment of the unfathomable: just as our gaze through the glass of a closed window does not allow complete sensory perception of the reality behind it, presentness can only be captured incompletely. Like the passing sky, which is ever offering us new visual phenomena, the video in the final room shows us a continual transformation and movement that is just as transitory as our present. Thus the title Transient Stage references a fundamental premise of Lombardi's work: the understanding of human perception as a process of perpetual change. The exhibition context is used as a temporary stage upon which the artist seeks to make this process visible.
Text: Julia Loeschl
Translation: Christopher Barber