Gomide&Co is pleased to present Interiors, a selection of medium format works by artist Marcelo Cipis (1959) in the first edition of ArPa, which will take place between 1 and 5 June 2022 at Complexo do Pacaembu, in São Paulo. Begun in the late 1970s, Cipis' practice embraces different languages and supports such as painting, drawing, collage, installation and sculpture creating narratives full of colors, shapes and characters.
In his Interiors, the reference to some movements of Art History is evident: the surrealist visuality of his works can be traced to Henri Matisse's L'Atelier Rouge (1911), the space-time treatment of Cubism and the forms of Suprematism, as well as the innovations in architecture and design of Gerrit Rietveld. No reference is gratuitous: Cipis even ironises the very narrative that these movements institutionalized. Like Fernand Léger, nicknamed by Louis Vauxcelles as a "tubist" painter, Cipis presents his own version of history by describing one of his paintings within what he calls "Bolism".
His characters are not only human, but plants and forms that interact with the various graphic elements – body parts, lines and colors – on the pictorial plane. They contemplate the very idea of painting and, elaborated from a chromatic game that directs the gaze, constitute an imaginary of the meta-image: his characters, as projections of an observer, assume amusing outlines that instigate contemplativeness and identification with a playful mise-en-scène.
Starting from subtle details, such as the use of the same color to "frame" the painting of this interior and exterior universe, Cipis "plays God", creates botanical species and organizes their shapes with the pretext of applying and relating colors, which are born from the painting's own course. Finally, in his Modern Living Room, all its elements come together as if they were drinking tea.
Since its foundation in 2013, Gomide&Co acts with excellence in the promotion of Brazilian art, participating in the most prestigious national and international fairs and presenting a highly regarded programme of rigorously constructed exhibitions. In the first edition of ArPa, we hope to re-present to the general public the work of a singular artist who, in his recent production, dives into an imaginative context of interior space, straining the ideas of the "good and bad" of contemporary image culture.
About Marcelo Cipis:
With a solid career, São Paulo artist Marcelo Cipis (1959) transits through various languages such as painting, drawing, collage, installation, sculpture, among others. With a degree in architecture from FAU-USP, he began his activities as an editorial illustrator in 1977. In 1982, he spent a decisive period in Europe, where he visited several museums that changed his outlook and his relationship with painting.
Back in São Paulo, he developed a painting practice with Dudi Maia Rosa (1946). In 1988, he opened his first solo exhibition at the Documenta Gallery in São Paulo. Participated in the 20th Bienal of São Paulo (1989) with the group exhibition Arte em jornal and, in 1991, in the 21st edition of the event with the installation Cipis Transworld, Art, Industry & Commerce, where he created a commercial booth for a fictitious multinational company. He participated in the 4th and 5th editions of the Havana Biennial (1991 and 1994). As an illustrator, he won the Jabuti Award, in 1994, for the cover of the book Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, published by Editora Martins Fontes.
Cipis is a versatile artist - even though his main support is paper and canvas, he doesn't let himself be limited by the surface, seeking in the materials their multiple possibilities. Since the 2000s, when he won the important prize of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York, he has exhibited his works in galleries and institutions around the world. In 2019, he participated with paintings from the Drops series in the 14th Curitiba Biennial. He is currently represented by the gallery Gomide&Co, in São Paulo, where he held his most recent solo exhibition, Enjoy, in 2021.
