Laura Vinci (São Paulo SP 1962)
Sculptor, intermedia artist, painter, draftsman and printmaker.
Maria Laura Vinci de Moraes graduated in visual arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado - Faap in São Paulo in 1987. At first she devoted herself to painting, then developed three-dimensional works in metal and stone. She began creating installations, such as the work presented at the event Arte Cidade: A Cidade e Suas Histórias [Art City: The City and Its Histories] in 1997. She designed the sets for the play Cacilda!, directed by José Celso Martinez Corrêa (1937 - 2023), at the Teatro Oficina in São Paulo in 1998. Since 2000, she has taught free painting and sculpture courses and taken part in workshops at various cultural institutions in São Paulo, such as the Instituto Tomie Ohtake. In 2000, she completed a master's degree in visual arts at the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo - ECA/USP [School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo]. She took part in the Projeto Residência Externa-Sertões/Teatro Oficina, directed by José Celso Martinez Corrêa, coordinating the set, costume and art direction workshops between 2000 and 2001. In 2003, the book Laura Vinci was published by Edusp. With The South Project, she did a residency at the School of Art of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, in 2005.
Critical Commentary
Laura Vinci initially devoted herself to painting. In 1987, she made thick paintings without frames or stretchers. In these canvases she created irregular grooves, vertical and slightly inclined in relation to the edges. As the critic Alberto Tassinari points out, it was from these works that Laura Vinci developed her sculptures. The first group of them consists of rods of iron and other materials. Tense and rough, with an irregular shape, they cut through space vertically and come close to the visuality of her paintings. In the black sculptures made in 1994, the floor becomes the main space for the works. The pieces are smooth, with a gentle undulation. The group tends toward a graphic aspect, and the sculptures resemble scratches or marks on the ground.
In 1997, Laura Vinci produced an installation at the event Arte/Cidade 3 in which she placed a mound of very fine sand in an abandoned building in São Paulo. Through a hole in the slab, the sand trickles down to the floor below. It is a work that alludes to the passage of time, to the idea of the hourglass and the erosion of things, associated also with the perception of a flow governed by natural conditions, such as humidity and wind, and leads one to reflect on time governed by the cycles of nature.
As the art historian Rodrigo Naves points out, in an installation the artist made in 2000 at the Centro Universitário Maria Antonia - Ceuma, the proximity between the elements seems to narrow even further. Among the columns of a large room, she placed a thick layer of marble dust and set down pieces, also of marble, carved in organic forms. An affinity of color and material is created between the volumes and the dust. The work presents an interplay between the solid and the granular, the formed and the formless, which recalls the works of Constantin Brancusi (1876 - 1957) and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564).
In Estados [States], 2003, presented at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB in São Paulo, Laura Vinci occupied the floors of the building with installations. In the basement, refrigeration coils formed frozen words composing a poem written by the artist. In the central atrium of the building, transparent glass basins were placed, some empty and others containing water. Electric heating elements wrapped in copper tubes connected the basins with water to one another and rose through the entire space of the building. At the same time, the water heated by the elements evaporated and retraced the path of the copper tubes. For Rodrigo Naves, passages, changes of state, metamorphoses of elements and transitions have become the distinctive mark of the artist's latest works.
Testimonials
"I am not dealing here with a painting devoted to the interests proper to figuration, which projects space imaginarily 'inward'. Instead, I work with motifs of repetition, based on color constituted by a weave of colors. A painting that tensions its inner and outer space conceived as a single space, whose limits are built as cutouts, and whose inner space contains false or near-collages. A painting in which the pictorial elements bear the desire to achieve the quasi-three-dimensional, the quasi-object. But a painting that does not wish to be representation (the real of the object represented here is not the object nor does it wish to be). Perhaps a painting intent on an unrepresentable real".
Laura Vinci
SEIS agosto. São Paulo: MAC/USP, 1987.
Solo Exhibitions
1987 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the studio of Ana Tatit, Laura Vinci, José Spaniol and Theo Werneck
1989 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at CCSP
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Funarte - Galeria Macunaíma
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at CCSP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at CCBB
1997 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at Casa da Imagem
1999 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
2000 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at CCSP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Címbalos [Cymbals], at Galeria 10,20 x 3,60
2002 - São Paulo SP - Coração de Vidro [Glass Heart], at Galeria 10,20 x 3,60
2002 - São Paulo SP - Estados [States], at CCBB
2003 - Miami (United States) - Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Statements
2003 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Nara Roesler
2004 - Siena (Italy) - Máquina do Mundo [Machine of the World], at Palazzo delle Papesse
Group Exhibitions
1983 - São Paulo SP - Exposição Anual na Faap [Faap Annual Exhibition] - acquisition prize and scholarship
1984 - São Paulo SP - Exposição Anual na Faap [Faap Annual Exhibition]
1985 - São Paulo SP - 3º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon], at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - Coletiva Exposição e Eventos [Exhibition and Events Group Show], at Faap
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [5th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1987 - São Paulo SP - Circuito Atelier Aberto [Open Studio Circuit]
1987 - São Paulo SP - Seis Agosto [Six August], at MAC/USP
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Macunaíma [Macunaíma Project], at Funarte - Centro de Artes
1988 - São Paulo SP - 6º Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea [6th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon]
1988 - São Paulo SP - Tendências Recentes [Recent Trends], at CCSP
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 11º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [11th National Visual Arts Salon], at Funarte
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Macunaíma [Macunaíma Project], at Funarte
1989 - São Paulo SP - 10 Artistas [10 Artists], at ateliê da rua Fortunato
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [National Visual Arts Salon], at Funarte
1991 - Brasília DF - Prêmio Brasília de Artes Plásticas 1991/12º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [Brasília Visual Arts Prize 1991/12th National Visual Arts Salon], at MAB/DF
1991 - São Paulo SP - Programa de Exposições de Artes Plásticas [Visual Arts Exhibition Program], at CCSP
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 13 Artistas [13 Artists], at MAM/RJ
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Prêmio Brasília de Artes Plásticas 1991/12º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [Brasília Visual Arts Prize 1991/12th National Visual Arts Salon], at Funarte - Centro de Artes
1992 - São Paulo SP - A Sedução dos Volumes: os tridimensionais do MAC [The Seduction of Volumes: MAC's Three-Dimensional Works], at MAC/USP
1992 - São Paulo SP - Galeria Camargo Vilaça: mostra inaugural [Galeria Camargo Vilaça: Opening Exhibition], at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
1992 - São Paulo SP - Programa Anual de Exposições de Artes Plásticas 91 [Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program 91], at Fundação Bienal
1995 - São Paulo SP - Entre o Desenho e a Escultura [Between Drawing and Sculpture], at MAM/SP
1996 - Curitiba PR - Exposição Inaugural [Inaugural Exhibition], at Galeria Casa da Imagem
1996 - São Paulo SP - Avesso do Avesso [Inside Out of Inside Out], at Paço das Artes
1996 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Camargo Vilaça Bis
1996 - São Paulo SP - Escultura ao Ar Livre [Open-Air Sculpture], at CCSP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Metal e Suas Ligações [Metal and Its Alloys], at Sesc Pompeia
1997 - Curitiba PR - A Arte Contemporânea da Gravura [Contemporary Printmaking], at Museu Metropolitano de Arte de Curitiba
1997 - Curitiba PR - Group show, at Galeria da Casa da Imagem
1997 - São Paulo SP - Arte Cidade: a cidade e suas histórias [Arte Cidade: The City and Its Stories]
1997 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
1997 - São Paulo SP - Projeto Arte/Cidade 3 [Art/City 3 Project]
1998 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Bienal Barro de América [Clay of America Biennial], at Museu Alejandro Otero
1998 - Maracaibo (Venezuela) - 3ª Bienal Barro de América [3rd Clay of America Biennial], at Centro de Arte de Maracaibo Lia Bermúdez
1998 - Melbourne (Australia) - Construction In Process
1998 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Barro da América [Clay of America Biennial], at MuBE
1998 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Camargo Vilaça Bis
1998 - São Paulo SP - Escultura no Jardim [Sculpture in the Garden], at Sesc Ipiranga
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - 2ª Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul [2nd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial], at Armazém do Cais do Porto (antigo DEPREC), no Margs e no Espaço Usina Gasômetro
1999 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Célia Euvaldo, Fabio Miguez, Laura Vinci and Renata Tassinari, at Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto Pedro Manuel-Gismondi
1999 - São Paulo SP - Espaço Aberto [Open Space], at Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade
2000 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Século 20: arte do Brasil [20th Century: Art of Brazil], at Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Mostra do Redescobrimento [Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition], at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - Obra Nova [New Work], at MAC/USP
2001 - New York (United States) - The Thread Unraveled: contemporary brazilian art [The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art], at El Museo del Barrio
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 - São Paulo SP - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Programa Anual de Exposições de Artes Plásticas [Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program], at CCSP
2002 - Brasília DF - Fragmentos a Seu Ímã [Fragments to Their Magnet], at Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo Venâncio
2002 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - The Thread Unraveled: contemporary brazilian art [The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art], at Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
2002 - São Paulo SP - Extensão [Extension], at Galeria 10,20 x 3,60
2002 - São Paulo SP - Genius Loci: o espírito do lugar [Genius Loci: The Spirit of Place], at ruas do bairro de Vila Buarque
2002 - São Paulo SP - Portão 2 [Gate 2], at Galeria Nara Roesler
2003 - Madrid (Spain) - Arco/2003 [ARCO/2003], at Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
2003 - São Paulo SP - Aquisições Recentes [Recent Acquisitions], at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Arco 2003 [ARCO 2003], at Galeria Nara Roesler
2004 - Madrid (Spain) - Arco/2004 [ARCO/2004], at Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
2004 - São Paulo SP - 26ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [26th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
2004 - São Paulo SP - Arte Contemporânea no Acervo Municipal [Contemporary Art in the Municipal Collection], at CCSP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Fotografia e Escultura no Acervo do MAM - 1995 a 2004 [Photography and Sculpture in the MAM Collection - 1995 to 2004], at MAM/SP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Still Life / Natureza Morta, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
Source: Itaú Cultural
