Edgard de Souza (São Paulo SP 1962)
Painter, sculptor, draftsman and printmaker.
He began his art studies at the Faculdade de Artes Plásticas of the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, in São Paulo, graduating in 1984. At the school, he came into contact with artists linked to conceptual art, especially Nelson Leirner. In addition to three-dimensional objects, he makes drawings, prints and paintings. Between 1998 and 1999, he produced a series of Cibachromes, a photographic technique, in which the artist portrays himself struggling and interacting with himself. Since the 1990s, he has taken part in important exhibitions in Brazil and abroad. In 2000, the publisher Cosac & Naify published the book Edgard de Souza, written by the critic Carlos Basualdo.
Critical Commentary
Edgard de Souza's work starts from the decontextualization of everyday objects. Through this operation, the artist seeks to destabilize concepts and conventions about art, proposing a new way of looking at the objects and forms around us and the construction of new senses and meanings. This thinking is strongly linked to the proposals of conceptual art, possibly related to his training with artists such as Regina Silveira (1939) and Nelson Leirner (1932 - 2020) in the visual arts course at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado - Faap. Between 1989 and 1990, he produced works using materials such as cowhide, snakeskin and sheepskin, wood, foam and velvet, which suggest forms of furniture and are presented in an unusual and ironic way.
Another important aspect of his work is the production of objects and sculptures that refer to the human body. These are forms close to the Surrealist imagination, ambiguous and fragmented, with signs and traces of corporeality, causing both familiarity and estrangement at the same time. Desire, sensuality, sexuality and eroticism are aspects that take on materiality in his works and provoke in viewers a perception of themselves and of their human condition, their bodies, sensations, experiences and memories. In the late 1990s, the artist produced a series of photographs in which he works with his own image, generating ambiguous and opposing meanings: attraction and repulsion, mirroring and estrangement, identity and otherness, rupture and unity.
Critiques
"Eroticized objects is perhaps the most appropriate description of Edgard de Souza's work. Pieces of furniture made of wood, impeccably upholstered, meticulously covered in hides or velvets: Souza builds sensual objects that hover between the walls and the floor, neither quite functional objects nor Minimalist art. While the care and carving characteristic of the construction of these forms suggest clear purpose and intention, they defy any use or application. There is, at the same time, a bizarre craft ethic in his work. Obsessively constructed over long periods, the exhausting processes of cutting, gluing, sanding, polishing, painting and layering the wood used to produce his works seem to act as a form of sublimation. Beautifully built from plywood and painted in a delicious cream tone, other works such as Gota [Drop] (1996) and Pérola [Pearl] (1994) have the appearance of pale, naked flesh. The smooth texture of the synthetic paints and enamels also gives them a slippery, erotic quality. Yet it is an eroticism of vulnerability and fear. Bagos [Berries] (1996) consists of two twisted wooden balls inside a black leather casing, like a violently sexualized object, while Abrigo [Shelter] (1993), an enormous structure resembling a fetus, works as a kind of protective womb."
Benjamin Genocchio
GENOCCHIO, Benjamin. Be(com)ing. In: MATERIAL, immaterial. Curadoria Benjamin Genocchio; texto Lisette Lagnado, Anthony Bond. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1994. p. 20-22.
"Other artists who emerged from the 1980s onward also maintain in their production extremely strong ties with the principles that marked the previous generation, from which their teachers emerged. In this sense, the work of Iran do Espírito Santo and Edgard de Souza is truly exemplary. Students of Regina Silveira and Nelson Leirner at Faap in the 1980s, these two artists, right at the start of their careers, verified through their production the developments of the concepts put forward by their teachers. (...) Edgard de Souza, at the Fundação Bienal (...), radicalized the humor present in Leirner's works, through two- and three-dimensional works that played with artistic and aesthetic concepts and conventions, destabilizing them, like his master. (...) A very significant part of Edgard de Souza's production (...) re-proposes objects taken from everyday life - and constant indicators of a 'place' (stools, cushions, poufs, etc.) - with modifications to their original morphology, always based on some of their primary characteristics. That prosaic object, naturally invisible in everyday life (given its extremely banal form and materials), suddenly acquires another visibility through the artist's sarcastic and perverse action. More recently, Edgard de Souza's production tends to turn toward a perhaps more introspective bias, more focused on the search for his own place in the world - the artist's body -, above all through sculptures and photographs in which his image is processed as self-portraits."
Tadeu Chiarelli
TRIDIMENSIONALIDADE: arte brasileira do século XX. Texto Annateresa Fabris, Fernando Cocchiarale, Celso Favaretto, Tadeu Chiarelli, Frederico Morais; apresentação Ricardo Ribenboim. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 1999. p. 177-178.
"Installed in the gallery space, Edgard's sculptures are arranged as a self-sufficient ensemble, isolated from the world but under the artist's direction. The gallery is a battlefield, the setting of a vacuum of ambiguities, where traces of the body - sensations, energy and sexuality - are placed in an uncomfortable state of suspension. Sheltered there are the residues of the effort made in the exhausting struggle in search of truths and affirmations, produced in a kind of secret ritual, private acts of risk, eros and thrill. Like protagonists of a fantastic story, because immensely human, the works present themselves as the pure expression of drive and desire converted into something in the realm of the real. To be interpreted, they call on memories of sensory experiences. In each of them the body is induced by artifice to reveal itself as a consumer of energy, power and libido. Seen as mirroring bodies in an endless reflection, they are imbued, in their condensation by the artist, with a closeness that automatically engages the senses. They provide the first stage of the perception of ourselves, in our potentialities and energies, extending through a closed circuit and swallowing the observer. For those who contemplate them, they are a disturbing erotic slit, open to the very interior of the observer and of his condition: we are, once again, before a drama founded on the impossibility of consummating desire, that small tragedy of human frustration."
Ivo Mesquita
MESQUITA, Ivo. Edgard de Souza: esculturas. In: TRIDIMENSIONALIDADE: arte brasileira do século XX. Texto Annateresa Fabris, Fernando Cocchiarale, Celso Favaretto, Tadeu Chiarelli, Frederico Morais; Apresentação Ricardo Ribenboim. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 1999. p. 190.
"(...) Edgard de Souza's works constitute a kind of preliminary and unfinished archive of the forms of this unprecedented corporeality, which, when torn from bodies, expands equally toward the arabesques of the plant world, the silent (muffled) warmth of the animal world or the rotund assonance of minerals. This polyvalence of forms leads us, in turn, to identify another certainly remarkable aspect of the works: the fact that every archive of forms implies and potentially contains a science of signs. It is not a matter of making sculptures that make it possible to establish a definitive correspondence between forms and what they mean, but the opposite. Each of the forms found results rather from the inadequacy of certain signifiers to their signifieds. In this way, each form is a plastic adventure, a pure invention for which there is no single or pre-established meaning. They are exploratory probes, and their precise materiality corresponds to the concretization of their possible journeys through the multiples of corporeality."
Carlos Basualdo
BASUALDO, Carlos. Edgard de Souza. In: EDGARD de Souza. Versão em inglês Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro; versão em português Luiz Antonio Araújo. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2000. p. 11-12.
Solo Exhibitions
1990 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Solo, at Pulitzer Art Gallery
1990 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1992 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1994 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1997 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1998 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at Galeria Casa da Imagem
1998 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at CCSP
2000 - New York (United States) - Solo, at Jack Shainman Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
2004 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2005 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
Group Exhibitions
1984 - São Paulo SP - 2º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [2nd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon], at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - 3º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon], at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Curitiba PR - 7ª Mostra de Gravura da Cidade de Curitiba [7th Curitiba Printmaking Exhibition]
1986 - São Paulo SP - 4º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [4th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon], at Fundação Bienal - Casa do Artista Prize
1987 - São Paulo SP - Imagens de Segunda Geração [Second-Generation Images], at MAC/USP
1988 - Ribeirão Preto SP - 13º Salão de Arte de Ribeirão Preto [13th Ribeirão Preto Art Salon], at Casa da Cultura de Ribeirão Preto
1988 - São Paulo SP - Coleção Particular de Eduardo Brandão [Eduardo Brandão Private Collection], at Galeria Casa Triângulo
1989 - Cologne (Germany) - 23rd Art Cologne, at Messehalle Koeln
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Stand E 204, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1989 - São Bernardo do Campo SP - Visões da Borda do Campo [Visions of Borda do Campo], at Marusan Galeria de Arte
1990 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Brasil: la nueva generación [Brazil: The New Generation], at Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes
1991 - São Paulo SP - 22º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [22nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1992 - São Paulo SP - Polaridades/Perspectivas [Polarities/Perspectives], at Paço das Artes
1993 - São Paulo SP - A Presença do Ready-Made: 80 Anos [The Presence of the Ready-Made: 80 Years], at MAC/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - Encontros e Tendências [Encounters and Tendencies], at MAC/USP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Espelhos e Sombras [Mirrors and Shadows], at MAM/SP
1995 - Chicago (United States) - Fag-O-Sites, at Gallery 400
1995 - New York (United States) - The Education of the Five Senses, at White Columns
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Infância Perversa: fábulas sobre a memória e o tempo [Perverse Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time], at MAM/RJ
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Espelhos e Sombras [Mirrors and Shadows], at CCBB
1995 - Rome (Italy) - The Education of the Five Senses, at Galleria Candido Portinari
1995 - Salvador BA - A Infância Perversa: fábulas sobre a memória e o tempo [Perverse Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time], at MAM/BA
1996 - São Paulo SP - Beige, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1997 - São Paulo SP - 25º Panorama da Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Tridimensionalidade na Arte Brasileira do Século XX [Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
1997 - Sydney (Australia) - Material Immaterial, at Art Gallery of New South Wales
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Tridimensionalidade na Arte Brasileira do Século XX [Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
1998 - Brasília DF - Tridimensionalidade na Arte Brasileira do Século XX [Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at Itaugaleria
1998 - Niterói RJ - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAC/Niterói
1998 - Penápolis SP - Tridimensionalidade na Arte Brasileira do Século XX [Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at Itaugaleria
1998 - Recife PE - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/PE
1998 - Ribeirão Preto SP - As Dimensões da Arte Contemporânea [The Dimensions of Contemporary Art], at Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto Pedro Manuel-Gismondi
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Brasileira no Acervo do MAM/SP: doações recentes 1996-1998 [Brazilian Art in the MAM/SP Collection: Recent Donations 1996-1998], at CCBB
1998 - Salvador BA - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/BA
1998 - São Paulo SP - 24th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - Programa Anual de Exposições de Artes Plásticas [Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program], at CCSP - guest artist
1999 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Das Vanguardas ao Fim do Milênio [From the Avant-Gardes to the End of the Millennium], at Culturgest
1999 - Madrid (Spain) - Arco'99, at Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Contemporânea Brasileira: um e outro [Brazilian Contemporary Art: One and the Other], at CCBB
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Cotidiano/Arte. O Objeto - Anos 60/90 [Everyday Life/Art. The Object - 1960s/90s], at MAM/RJ
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Sono da Razão [The Sleep of Reason], at MAM/RJ
1999 - São João da Boa Vista SP - 2ª Semana Fernando Furlanetto Fotografia [2nd Fernando Furlanetto Photography Week], at Teatro Municipal
1999 - São Paulo SP - Cotidiano/Arte. O Objeto - Anos 60/90 [Everyday Life/Art. The Object - 1960s/90s], at Itaú Cultural
2000 - Belo Horizonte MG - Investigações. A Gravura Brasileira. São ou Não São Gravuras [Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking. Are They or Aren't They Prints], at Itaú Cultural
2000 - Brasília DF - Investigações. A Gravura Brasileira. São ou Não São Gravuras [Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking. Are They or Aren't They Prints], at Itaugaleria
2000 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Brasil: plural y singular [Brazil: Plural and Singular], at Museo de Arte Moderno
2000 - Kraichtal (Germany) - Em Busca da Identidade [In Search of Identity], at Ursula Blickle Stiftung
2000 - New York (United States) - Simultaneous, at Jack Shainman Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - 15 anos do Clube de Gravura do MAM [15 Years of the MAM Print Club], at MAM/SP
2000 - São Paulo SP - 32º Anual de Artes Plásticas da Faap [32nd Faap Annual of Visual Arts], at MAM/SP
2000 - São Paulo SP - A Figura Humana na Coleção Itaú [The Human Figure in the Itaú Collection], at Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - Ars Erótica: sexo e erotismo na arte brasileira [Ars Erotica: Sex and Eroticism in Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
2000 - São Paulo SP - Obra Nova [New Work], at MAC/USP
2001 - Bologna (Italy) - Em Busca da Identidade [In Search of Identity], at Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna
2001 - Campinas SP - Deslocamentos do Eu: o autorretrato digital e pré-digital na arte brasileira 1976 - 2001 [Displacements of the Self: The Digital and Pre-Digital Self-Portrait in Brazilian Art 1976 - 2001], at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at MAM/RJ
2001 - Salzburg (Austria) - Em Busca da Identidade [In Search of Identity], at Rupertinum
2001 - São Paulo SP - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Ideia Coletiva [Collective Idea], at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
2001 - São Paulo SP - Ideia Coletiva [Collective Idea], at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2001 - São Paulo SP - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Trajetória da Luz na Arte Brasileira [Trajectory of Light in Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
2002 - Londrina PR - São ou Não São Gravuras? [Are They or Aren't They Prints?], at Museu de Arte de Londrina
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artefoto, at CCBB
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporâneo 1952-2002 [Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002], at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - Insólitos [Unusual Things], at Espaço MAM - Villa-Lobos
2002 - São Paulo SP - Nefelibatas, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Paralela, at warehouse on Avenida Matarazzo 530
2002 - São Paulo SP - Representação Humana [Human Representation], at A Estufa
2003 - Brasília DF - Artefoto, at CCBB
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Acervo 2003 / 2004 [Collection 2003 / 2004], at Galeria Luisa Strina
2003 - São Paulo SP - Aquisições Recentes 2003 pelo Núcleo Contemporâneo do MAM [Recent Acquisitions 2003 by the MAM Contemporary Group], at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Galeria Luisa Strina: artistas representados [Galeria Luisa Strina: Represented Artists], at Galeria Luisa Strina
2003 - São Paulo SP - Meus Amigos [My Friends], at Espaço MAM - Villa-Lobos
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Contemporânea Brasileira nas Coleções do Rio [Brazilian Contemporary Art in Rio Collections], at MAM/RJ
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Novas Aquisições 2003: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [New Acquisitions 2003: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at MAM/RJ
2005 - São Paulo SP - O Corpo na Arte Contemporânea Brasileira [The Body in Contemporary Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
Source: Itaú Cultural
