Fábio Miguez (São Paulo SP 1962)
Fábio Miguez is a painter, printmaker and photographer. In 1980, Fábio Marques Miguez began studying architecture at the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo - FAU/USP. In the following two years, he also studied metal printmaking with Sérgio Fingermann. From 1983 to 1985, he was part of the Casa 7 studio, together with Carlito Carvalhosa, Nuno Ramos, Paulo Monteiro and Rodrigo de Andrade. At first, his work, made in large formats, shows broad brushstrokes and strong colors, an expressive facture close to the Italian Transavanguardia and Neo-Expressionism. At the end of the 1980s, the artist began making abstract canvases laden with pictorial matter, tending toward monochrome and using subdued tones. In the canvases produced from the mid-1990s onward, the backgrounds often become large gray or white areas, and the artist explores the thinning of paint and the intensification of color. The facture becomes more transparent. Alongside this, the artist devotes himself to photography. In the series Deriva [Drift], made between 1993 and 1994, he shows landscapes of a corner of a beach in which landforms and solid bodies appear amid a misty atmosphere.
Critical Commentary
In the mid-1980s, Fábio Miguez painted landscapes of an almost abstract character. Like the other artists of Casa 7 - the group he belonged to - his work features broad brushstrokes and strong colors, an expressive facture in large formats, close to Neo-Expressionism. At the end of the 1980s, the artist produced abstract canvases laden with pictorial matter, tending toward monochrome and using subdued tones: brown, gray and black. As critic Roberto Pontual notes, these works are sober, with few contrasts, closed in on their tangle of brushstrokes, yet energetic in the constructive principle they seek to establish. Later, he uses a varied and luminous chromatic range.
In canvases from the mid-1990s, he began exploring the thinning and intensification of color in pictures whose backgrounds often become large gray or white areas. The facture is more transparent and the paint more diluted. In his paintings, areas marked by gesture are combined with others of an evanescent character. In the opinion of art historian Rodrigo Naves, Miguez's work reveals an affinity with that of the Dutch artist Bram van Velde, with its Matisse-like joyful areas of color and its shapeless, threatening structure, as well as a dialogue with the work of Jorge Guinle.
In paintings shown from 2001 onward, the diluted forms of his canvases appear together with more intensely colored geometric elements. These geometric shapes seem to float on a plane above that of the patches of color. Miguez thus explores pictorial space as built from different densities of color. In some works, he uses wooden elements glued to the pictures, which create a difference in depth within the pictorial space and reinforce the solidity of the geometric elements, as opposed to areas where the paint is more fluid and the facture thinner and more transparent.
The artist also devotes himself to photography. In the series Deriva, made between 1993 and 1994, he shows landscapes of a corner of a beach in which landforms and solid bodies are set in a misty atmosphere. Miguez explores the optical experiences of approaching and receding, and the dissolution or blurring of surfaces. By recording fog and the movement of the waves, he highlights the instability of the landscape, creating images that seem fleeting. For critic Alberto Tassinari, these photographs point to questions the artist later took up in his paintings. Thus, waves or fog are the form instability takes in the photographs, explored in various ways in the paintings through pairs of opposites that favor neither pole: the defined and the undefined, the clustered and the dispersed, indifference and contrast.
Critiques
"Unlike Nuno's painting, which lives in the impossibility of the plane and thus in the decentering of the subject, whose presence can be recovered only in the turbulent undifferentiation of matter, Fábio Miguez's painting presupposes a containing action on matter, and hence a subject in permanent tension with the resulting support. This is clearly not a praise of the subject in possible expressive extroversion, since his action in confronting matter turns out to be almost calculated, strategic, carried out step by step. That is why there is nothing grandiose about it, no will to an immediate and total experience of the world. It seems endowed with a wisdom of small gains, aware that the subject no longer occupies the center of the visual field, and also that even the pretense of a subject confident in the world of appearances would be excessive in this case. Subjectivity here is thus rarefied, dispersive, settling languidly into the lumps of pigment that emerge with a certain regularity and monotony on the canvas. What seems to be at stake is a matter incapable of being immediately infused with expressiveness, of coming alive with presence. But such a situation calls for a subject who must intensify his action, even while believing this can happen only discreetly and obliquely. That is why there is not, properly speaking, the work of the painter here, for the accumulations of paint sprout as excesses, secretions of the support. The action of painting begins at the moment of managing this opaque, indifferent eruption of matter, of qualifying it through the work of the eye that smooths the lumps, trims the excesses, gives them meaning and constitutes the plane: humanizes them."
Sônia Salzstein Goldberg
GOLDBERG, Sônia Salzstein. Questão de materialidade. Guia das Artes, São Paulo: Casa Editorial Paulista, v. 3, n. 11, p. 42-46, 1988.
"Starting from a confrontation that is more pictorial than a hand-to-hand struggle with the world, Fábio Miguez's painting is achieving unexpected results. Now we find ourselves beset by the world on all sides, at such close range that we barely obtain the minimum distance that allows things to be delineated. To speak of perception, therefore, becomes almost a paradox here. And since we lack a distance that would allow objects to be grasped, the ordering of the pictures is also dominated by this suffocating proximity: matter, color and form merge greasily, without any principle clearly emerging to indicate the path toward a formal organization. It seems, then, that the cycle closes. It is precisely at the moment of renewed sensuous force - which is beginning to announce itself - that this painting will undergo its decisive test. It seems inevitable that all great art production tends, at the outset, to be all of art. Only later can affiliations and ties be established. In this moment of suspended certainties, new links are formed between form and perception, between world and expression. It seems undeniable to me that Fábio Miguez has this motivation."
Rodrigo Naves
JAÚ e arte: um compromisso. Apresentação de Marcantonio Vilaça. Textos de Lorenzo Mammi et al. São Paulo: Jaú Construtora e Incorporadora, 1989.
Solo Exhibitions
1988 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Funarte. Galeria Macunaíma
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1991 - Recife PE - Solo, at Espaço Pasárgada
1995 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at Galeria Casa da Imagem
1995 - São Paulo SP - Fábio Miguez: pinturas [Fábio Miguez: Paintings], at Galeria Millan
1995 - São Paulo SP - Fábio Miguez: pinturas [Fábio Miguez: Paintings], at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Paço Imperial
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
2002 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria 10,20 x 3,60
2002 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Cultural São Paulo
2003 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2004 - São Paulo SP - Compensados [Plywoods], at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
2006 - São Paulo SP - Onde [Where], at Galeria Millan Antonio
2008 - São Paulo SP - Temas e Variações [Themes and Variations], at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
Group Exhibitions
1981 - São Paulo SP - Pintura na Cidade [Painting in the City], at FAU/USP
1982 - São Paulo SP - Pinturas e Gravuras [Paintings and Prints], at Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo
1984 - Piracicaba SP - 16th Piracicaba Contemporary Art Salon
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte na Rua 2 [Art in the Street 2], on billboards around the city
1984 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Museu da Imagem e do Som
1984 - São Paulo SP - Arte na Rua 2 [Art in the Street 2], on billboards around the city
1984 - São Paulo SP - Group show with the Casa 7 Group and Sérgio Fingermann, at Centro Cultural São Paulo
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at Museu de Arte Moderna - acquisition prize
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Casa 7, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1985 - São Paulo SP - 12 Artistas Paulistas [12 São Paulo Artists], at Subdistrito Comercial de Arte
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - Casa 7: pintura [Casa 7: Painting], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1985 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Belo Horizonte MG - 9th National Visual Arts Salon: Southeast, at Fundação Clóvis Salgado. Palácio das Artes
1986 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 1st Latin American Biennial of Art on Paper, at Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires - honorable mention
1986 - Havana (Cuba) - 2nd Havana Biennial
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th National Visual Arts Salon, at Museu de Arte Moderna - acquisition prize
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Christian Dior Contemporary Art Show: Painting, at Paço Imperial
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ao Colecionador: homenagem a Gilberto Chateaubriand [To the Collector: A Tribute to Gilberto Chateaubriand], at Museu de Arte Moderna
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 10th National Visual Arts Salon, at Funarte - acquisition prize
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Macunaíma [Macunaíma Project], at Fundação Nacional de Artes. Centro de Artes
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 Anos: aquisições e doações recentes [MAC 25 Years: Recent Acquisitions and Donations], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1989 - Jaú SP - Jaú e Arte: um compromisso [Jaú and Art: A Commitment]
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1989 - São Paulo SP - 7 Artistas [7 Artists], at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Perspectivas Recentes [Recent Perspectives], at Centro Cultural São Paulo
1990 - Los Angeles (United States) - Brazil Projects'90, at Municipal Art Gallery
1990 - São Paulo SP - 10 Artistas [10 Artists], at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Brazil Projects'90, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1991 - Cuenca (Ecuador) - 3rd Cuenca International Biennial
1991 - Piracicaba SP - Artistas Contemporâneos no Engenho Central [Contemporary Artists at the Engenho Central], at Engenho Central
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 13 Artistas [13 Artists], at Museu de Arte Moderna
1992 - São Paulo SP - 13 Artistas [13 Artists], at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - João Sattamini/Subdistrito, at Casa das Rosas
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX [20th-Century Brazil Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1995 - Londrina PR - Arte Brasileira: Confrontos e Contrastes [Brazilian Art: Confrontations and Contrasts], at Pavilhão Internacional Octávio Cesário Pereira Júnior
1995 - São Paulo SP - Anos 80: o palco da diversidade [The 80s: The Stage of Diversity], at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - Niterói RJ - Arte Contemporânea Brasileira na Coleção João Sattamini [Contemporary Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
1997 - São Paulo SP - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte, at Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte
1998 - Goiânia GO - Os Anos 80 [The 80s], at Galeria Potrich Arte Contemporânea
1998 - Niterói RJ - Espelho da Bienal [Mirror of the Biennial], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
1998 - Niterói RJ - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
1998 - Recife PE - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães
1998 - Salvador BA - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1998 - São Paulo SP - O Colecionador [The Collector], at Museu de Arte Moderna
1998 - São Paulo SP - O Moderno e o Contemporâneo na Arte Brasileira: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand - MAM/RJ [The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ], at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1999 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Célia Euvaldo, Fabio Miguez, Laura Vinci, Renata Tassinari, at Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto Pedro Manuel-Gismondi
2000 - Niterói RJ - Pinturas na Coleção João Sattamini [Paintings in the João Sattamini Collection], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
2000 - São Paulo SP - Os Anjos Estão de Volta [The Angels Are Back], at Pinacoteca do Estado
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 Museu de Arte Moderna
2001 - São Paulo SP - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at Museu de Arte Moderna
2001 - São Paulo SP - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at Museu de Arte Moderna
2002 - Niterói RJ - A Recente Coleção do MAC [The Recent MAC Collection], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporâneo 1952-2002 [Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002], at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - 10 Anos Marília Razuk [10 Years of Marília Razuk], at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
2002 - São Paulo SP - 28 (+) Pintura [28 (+) Painting], at Galeria Virgílio
2002 - São Paulo SP - Programa Anual de Exposições de Artes Plásticas [Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program], at Centro Cultural São Paulo
2003 - Belo Horizonte MG - Fabio Miguez, Rodrigo de Castro, Sérgio Sister, at Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo
2004 - Niterói RJ - Pintura e Desenho - 90/00 [Painting and Drawing - 90/00], at MAC-Niterói
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Onde Está Você, Geração 80? [Where Are You, Generation 80?], at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2004 - São Paulo SP - Arte Contemporânea no Acervo Municipal [Contemporary Art in the Municipal Collection], at Centro Cultural São Paulo
2005 - Porto Alegre RS - 5th Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial
2005 - São Paulo SP - Artistas da Galeria Millan Antonio na 5ª Bienal do Mercosul [Galeria Millan Antonio Artists at the 5th Mercosul Biennial], at Galeria Millan Antonio
2006 - Belém PA - Traços e Transições da Arte Contemporânea Brasileira [Traces and Transitions of Brazilian Contemporary Art], at Espaço Cultural Casa das Onze Janelas
2006 - São Paulo SP - Paralela 2006, at Pavilhão dos Estados
2007 - São Paulo SP - Itaú Contemporâneo: arte no Brasil 1981-2006 [Itaú Contemporary: Art in Brazil 1981-2006], at Itaú Cultural
2008 - São Paulo SP - MAM 60, at Oca
2009 - Niterói RJ - Arte Contemporânea Brasileira nas Coleções João Sattamini e MAC de Niterói [Brazilian Contemporary Art in the João Sattamini and MAC Niterói Collections], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
2009 - São Paulo SP - Vértice [Vertex], at Galeria Millan
Source: Itaú Cultural
