Cybèle Varela (Petrópolis RJ 1943)
Cybèle Varela is a painter, photographer, videographer and object creator. He began his studies in painting at the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ), between 1962 and 1966. In the same period, he served as director of the Associação Amigos da Arte, in Petrópolis, promoting several cultural events, including performances such as the opera La Bohème and the dancer Beatriz Consuelo.
Received a scholarship from the French government to study in Paris, in the periods of 1968/1969 and 1971/1972, attending the École du Louvre. Between 1973 and 1974, he resided at Cité Internationale des Arts and subsequently attended the École Pratique des Hautes Études, between 1976 and 1978, where he produced a memoire on art body. During the 1960s, still in Brazil, he stood out for his large panels with urban themes, using synthetic enamel on wood, as in the work Grand Prix, awarded at the Salão de Arte Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro in 1969. Sepulchral whiteboard, on display at the 9th International Biennial of São Paulo.
In Paris, its production began to focus on landscapes and the investigation of sunlight, using photographic and videographic techniques, being the author of the video image, currently belonging to the Center Georges collection Pompidou. In 1975, he joined the exhibition 30 Créateurs d’Aujourd’hui, itinerant for France, which brought together the most outstanding artists of the year.
In the 1980s, living in Geneva, He focused his production on themes related to nature. In 1996, he had one of his works donated by the Brazilian government to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. In its last phases, it resumed figuration within a narrative approach, employing painting, photography and video around common themes. In this context, he held outstanding individual exhibitions, such as the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) in 2003 and at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC/USP) in 2005.
Criticism
"Apparently neutral, and almost always titled in a poetic way ("landscapes") the images of Cybèle Varela must also be looked at as beyond that simple paintings (...). This painter, (...) themes, just this: our society is so made that we are no longer open to nature, but on the contrary, and thanks to glass and its abstraction, nature comes as an environment to play with our environment. Best of cases - by the appropriation of a view (panoramic if possible) in the domestic universe. Material and support of the modern dream, the glass transformed the landscape into a spectacle (...). Creates transparency without transition: obligation to see but forbidden to touch! This formal satisfaction hides an exclusionary relationship that denounces with a surprising vigor this elegant work 'Sans avoir l'air d'y toucher' precisely."
Jean-Luc Chalumeau
Chalumeau, Jean-Luc. "Le found par l'image realiste". In: ___________. initiation à la lecture de l'art contemporain. Paris: Nathan, 1976, p. 82/84.
"The relationship thus established is multiple: what transmits the painter to us on its canvas is something like the sun's ray and its contrasting effects. This light structure, repeated infinite times in different ways, constitutes the systematic foundation of language, which this painting teaches us. The multiple shadow/light relationship acts on the representative unit of the image (something like a landscape) and this is how Cybele Varela's painting restores us to the multidimensional reality of the significant field. The real of Cybele Varela exists only at the level of language."
Pierre Restany
Cybele Varela: Photographs and paintings. Paulo: MAC/USP, 1981.
"If the urban landscape was, in its Brazilian phase, an exercise in geometry, from 1973 onwards, the impressionist landscape is a mere pretext for a discussion about the picture. What the artist does is to transform the relationship of light and shadow into pictorial matter, a relationship that changes as a function of the greater or lesser distance from the viewing angle. A set of distances that will allow the inclusion or exclusion, in the visual field, of a red stake, the only vertical element to break the luminous horizontality of the landscape. And it is precisely this banal element within the pretext theme - the stake and its shadow - that accentuates the artist's type of concern, which is to discuss the relationship between painting and representation (...) discussion about the image. Reduced to strips, burnt, multiplied or re-pictured, superimposed or confronted with its own painted version, the mother-on-matrix reappears continuously in a kind of abysmal game in which the real and the virtual are confused. This vertigo, this 'mise-en-abime' by Cybele is a dive in the air, a form of increasing distance from the naturalistic conception of art (...)". Paintings Text by Frederico Morais Rio de Janeiro: Galeria Bonino, 1984.
"The rare and painful contact with beauty is so intense and painful. For those who live, there is always a warning to prevent their fullness. and there is always a new utopia to oppose incompleteness. Everything is always beyond, unattainable, grandiose, but perceptible, possible, within the reach of apprehension or fantasy. Apprehension, yes, in its double meaning, that of something that is achieved with the mind, is harvested with the hands, remains close, and that of something that rests, scares, threatens".
Artur da Távola
Cybele Varela. Text by Artur da Távola. Rio de Janeiro: Galeria Bonino, 1988.
Testimonies
"In the 1960s, I worked with industrial paint on wood with themes urban, scenes where seemingly disconnected characters met in my painting and in my objects/puzzle. Since that time, I have always felt an absence of time, a certain unreality that life did not explain to me. In 1968, I went to Paris with a French government scholarship. There, the memory of my home country was fragmented that disappeared with the sunlight that entered through the blinds of my atelier. I felt even more the isolation in relation to the nature that surrounds us. So I deleted the figures. (...) So time passed, I did work using several techniques, including Super-8, photos, video, but the painting was and is my basis. At the turn of the century, I thought the characters had to reappear in my paintings. However, as I never accepted a single reality, they merge with those of the past. Some are known, others invented by me. But what is the difference for those who see the distant time, suspended in the very infinity of the cosmos? My characters are flashes of moments lived by other beings and myself. (...)"
Cybèle Varela
Cybèle Varela: Surroundings. Rio de Janeiro: National Museum of Fine Arts, 2003.
Captures
Centre Georges Pompidou - Paris (France)
Centro Cultural São Paulo - CCSP - São Paulo SP
Embassy of Brazil - Paris (France)
Décoration de la fonds Ville de Genève - Geneva (Switzerland)
Fonds National d'Art Contemporain - Paris (France)
Petrópolis Cultural Foundation - Petrópolis RJ
Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts - Lausanne (Switzerland)
Musée Voltaire - Geneva (Switzerland)
Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo - MAC/USP - São Paulo SP
Museum of Contemporary Art - MAC-Niterói - Niterói RJ
Museum of Contemporary Art - MAC/PR - Curitiba PR
São Paulo Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP - São Paulo SP
Belo Horizonte Museum of Modern Art - MAM/BH - Belo Horizonte MG
Campinas Museum of Modern Art - Mam de Campinas - Campinas SP
São Paulo Museum of Modern Art - MAM/SP - São Paulo SP
Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ - Rio de Janeiro RJ
National Museum of Fine Arts - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Museum of Modern Art of Latin America - Washington D.C. (United States)
Rio de Janeiro Observatory - Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Palais des Nations/UN - Geneva (Switzerland)
Saginaw Art Museum - Michigan (United States)
Temple de l'Humanité/Musée Auguste Comte - Paris (France)
World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO - Geneva (Switzerland)
Individual exhibitions
1962 - Petrópolis RJ - Individual, at Hall Santa Isabel
1966 - Petrópolis RJ - Individual, at the Imperial Museum
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the gallery Goeldi
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Copacabana Palace Gallery
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the gallery Copacabana Palace
1972 - Paris (France) - Individual, at Galeria Debret
1973 - Paris (France) - Individual, at Cité Internationale des Arts
1974 - Paris (France) - Individual, at Galerie Lilliane François
1975 - Paris (France) - Individual, at Galerie Camile Renault
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Bonino Gallery
1975 - Bonn (Germany) - Individual, at the Ibero-American Gallery
1976 - London (England) - Individual, at the Canning House
1976 - Frankfurt (Germany) - Individual, Deutsch-Amerikanische Institut
1977 - Paris (France) - Individual at Galerie Camile Renault
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Ipanema Gallery
1977 - São Paulo SP - Cybele Varela: paintings, photos, movies, at the Global Art Gallery
1980 - Lausanne (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Cantonal Musée des Beaux-Arts
1980 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Individual, at Galerie Canon
1980 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at MAC/USP
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Funarte, Sergio Gallery Milliet
1982 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Individual, at the Art Center y Comunicación (CAYC)
1982 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Engelberts Gallery
1983 - Milan (Italy) - Individual, at the Bonaparte Gallery
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Bonino Gallery
1984 - Grenchen (Switzerland) - Individual, at Galerie Brechbuhl
1985 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Engelberts Gallery
1985 - Lausanne (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Galerie Focus
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Bonino Gallery
1986 - Riehen (Switzerland) - Individual, at Galeria Demenga
1986 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Seta
1987 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America
1987 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the Wallace Wenthworth Gallery
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Bonino Gallery
1989 - Riehen (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Demenga Gallery
1990 - Chicago (United States) - Individual, at Clausen Art Gallery
1990 - Michigan (United States) - Individual, at T.C. Downtown Gallery
1990 - Basel (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Demenga Gallery
1991 - Bourg-en-Bresse (France) - Individual, at Galerie Lévy
1992 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Renato Magalhães Gouvêa Art Office
1992 - Brussels (Belgium) - Individual, at Galerie Zinzen
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Bonino Gallery
1992 - Petrópolis RJ - Individual, at the Imperial Museum
1994 - Brussels (Belgium) - Individual, at the Cimaises Mercator Gallery
2001 - Berlin (Germany) - Individual, at Galeria Demenga
2001 - Basel (Switzerland) - Individual, at Galeria Demenga
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at MNBA
2005 - Sao Paulo SP - Individual from MAC/USP
2007 - Rome (Italy) - Individual at Galeria Candido Portinari, Palazzo Pamphilj
Collective exhibitions
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Hall of the Association of Brazilian Artists, at the MNBA - Honorable Mention
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Hall of the Association of Brazilian Artists, at MNBA
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Hall of the Association of Artists Brazilians, at the MNBA - Bronze Medal
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective, at MAM/RJ
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Plastic Arts
1967 - Brasília DF - 4 Federal District Modern Art Salon, at the Cláudio Santoro National Theater
1967 - Campinas SP - 3rd Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MACC
1967 - São Paulo SP - 1st Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP - Award Acquisition
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Box Contest, at Petite Galerie
1967 - Belo Horizonte MG - 13th Salão de Belo Horizonte, at MAP
1967 - Curitiba PR - 24th Salão do Paraná, at MAC/PR - Acquisition Award
1968 - South America - Traveling Exhibition Contemporary Aspects of Brazilian Painting
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAM/RJ
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 17th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1968 - Salvador BA - 2nd National Biennial of Plastic Arts
1968 - São Paulo SP - 17th São Paulo Salão de Arte Moderna
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mass iconography, at Esdii
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão da Comússola, at MAM/RJ - Aroldo Propaganda Internship Award
1969 - São Paulo SP - 10th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1969 - São Paulo SP - Salão de Arte Moderna - Silver Medal
1970 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1970 - São Paulo SP - Pre-Bienal of São Paulo, at the Biennial Foundation
1970 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Montevideo Biennial
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Salão de Belo Horizonte - Acquisition Award
1971 - Campinas SP - 7th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MACC - Acquisition Award
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Luz e Movimento, at MAM/RJ
1972 - Paris (France) - Salon Comparaisons, at the Grand Palais
1972 - São Paulo SP - Sesquicentennial Art Exhibition of Independence and Brazil Plastic - 72, at the Bienal Foundation
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - Paris (France) - Forum des Arts O.R.T.F.
1972 - Paris (France) - Salon Sociéte Internationale des Beaux-Arts, at the Grand Palais - Bernheim Prize of Villers
1972 - Vincennes (France) - Boursiers du Gouvernement Français, at Parc Floral
1972 - Paris (France) - Collective at Cité Internationale des Arts
1972 - Paris (France) - Collective, at Galerie L'Oeil de Boeuf
1974 - Paris (France) - Salon de Mai
1974 - Paris (France) - Collective, at Galerie Rencontres, Paysages
1974 - Paris (France) - Sociéte Internationale des Beaux-Arts, at the Grand Palais
1974 - Paris (France) - Salon Comparaisons, at the Grand Palais
1974 - Paris (France) - Festival du Marais
1974 - Vascouil (France) - Hyperréalistes Français et Étrangers, at Château de Vascouil
1974 - Ascona (Italy) - Collective, at Galeria Internazionale d'art
1975 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Aspects of European Realism, at the Gordillo Gallery
1975 - Paris (France) - Salon des Femmes Peintres, UNESCO
1975 - Paris (France) - Salon La Nationale
1975 - Paris (France) - Mai à la Défense
1975 - Paris (France) - Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui, at the Grand Palais
1975 - Cagnes-sur-Mer (France) - Cagnes-sur-Mer Festival
1975 - France - Traveling Exhibition 30 Créateurs, Sélection 1975
1975 - Villeparisis (France) - La Foire de l'Estampe
1975 - Paris (France) - Salon Comparaisons, at the Grand Palais
1975 - Kuwait - Collective, at Galerie Des Arts Dhabiat Abdulla Al Salem
1975 - Paris (France) - Salon Dialogues
1977 - Bellême (France) - Artistes en Liberté dans la Perche
1980 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Artistes de Genève, at the Musée Rath
1980 - Milan (Italy) - Collective, at Galeira Cenobio Visualità
1981 - São Paulo SP - 16th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1981 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Post Tenebras Lux, video circuit, at Salle Simon Patiño
1982 - Nishinomya (Japan) - Mail Art
1982 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Artistes Genevois
1984 - Morges (Switzerland) - Collective, at Galerie Kasper
1985 - Ragusa (Italy) - Mail Art, Pace and Libertà Die Popoli
1985 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Collective, at the Center d'Art Visuel
1987 - Los Angeles (United States) - Art La 87
1987 - Basel (Switzerland) - Art Basel 87
1987 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Collective, at Galerie Editt
1988 - Los Angeles (United States) - Art La 88
1988 - Basel (Switzerland) - Art Basel 88
1988 - Nice (France) - Art Jonction International
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective, at Espaço BNDES
1991 - São Paulo SP - What Are You Now Generation 60?: Young contemporary art of the 60s revisited, at MAC/USP
1991 - Basel (Switzerland) - Collective, at Galeria Demenga
1991 - Thonon-les-Bains (France) - Collective, at Galerie Patrice Alexis
1992 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at MAC/USP
1993 - Brussels (Belgium) - Collective, at Galerie Zinzen
1994 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Europ'art
1994 - Annemasse (France) - Villa Du Parc
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history in the MAC/USP collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1997 - São Paulo SP - A Cidade dos Artistas, in the MAC/USP
1999 - Basel (Switzerland) - das 20 Jarhundert, at Galerie Demenga
1999 - São Paulo SP - Brazil in the century of art, at MAC/USP
2001 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Art Affair
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art Knowledge: 70 years USP, at MAC/USP
2004 - Niterói RJ - 60s In the Sattamini Collection, at Mac-Niterói
2006 - Curitiba PR - Other 60's, at MAC/PR
Source: Itaú Cultural
