Graphic expressions and contemporaneity
Maristela Salvatori
Translation by Nick Rands & Daniela Kern
O
n the one hand, as in all areas of knowledge, there is an active and growing enthusiasm for new technologies, though this enthusiasm has not meant the abandonment of the act of recording and leaving one’s mark, a founding gesture which is as old as mankind. In fact, we often see, side by side, or even mixed, cutting edge technologies and technologies that go back to the history of mankind. Although this is not a mere replacement, the new and enticing possibilities for replication have brought technological advances that have been gradually incorporated into the creation of graphic images and expanded its possibilities. In this regard we can mention the work by several artists who have built a solid career in southern Brazil, such as Maria Lucia Cattani, and pieces by young up-and-comers like the ones featured in this exhibit. We are going to briefly highlight here the work by two great artists trained at the UFRGS Instituto de Artes: Vera Chaves Barcellos and Regina Silveira.
Enlargements and developments Boasting a long career, the artist Vera Chaves Barcellos (Porto Alegre, 1938) shows large pieces that make use of many resources and languages, from photography to printmaking, among the many other possible ways of capturing and reproducing an image. The artist’s began after graduating in Music from the UFRGS Instituto de Artes and then turning to the study and practice of visual arts. In the early 1970s she lived in Europe, studying printmaking London and Rotterdam before returning to Brazil and setting up her studio in Viamão in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, where she soon became known as a Brazilian artist producing important work in printmaking. She taught for some years at the Fine Arts Faculty in Feevale University, and began to investigate different visual languages, with a great emphasis on photography, representing Brazil at the 1976 Venice Biennale 17
Maristela Salvatori