Lenora de Barros (São Paulo SP 1953)
Visual artist, poet.
In the late 1970s, she graduated in linguistics from the Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo (FFLCH/USP) [School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo]. At the 17th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [São Paulo International Biennial], in 1983, she exhibited visual poems produced for the first time in videotext. That same year she published the book Onde Se Vê [Where One Sees], through the publisher Klaxon. She moved to Milan, where she lived from 1990 to 1991. In that city, she held the solo show Poesia É Coisa de Nada [Poetry Is a Thing of Nothing], with works from 1985 to 1990, at the Galleria Mercato del Sale, and curated the exhibition Poesia Concreta in Brasile [Concrete Poetry in Brazil] at the Archivio della Grazia di Nuova Scrittura. Back in Brazil, she worked as a contributor to Jornal da Tarde and wrote the column Umas [Some], on poetic and photo-performative experiences, from 1993 to 1995. During that period, she also worked as photo editor at the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and art director of the magazine Placar. In 1998, she took part in the 24th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo alongside Arnaldo Antunes (1960) and Walter Silveira (1955), with the installation A Contribuição Multimilionária de Todos os Erros [The Multimillionaire Contribution of All Errors]. In 2000, she received the Multicultural Prize from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. With the musician Cid Campos (1958), she created in 2001 the sound installation (Des)Encorpa [(Dis)Embody] for the exhibition The Overexcited Body at the Palazzo dell'Arengario in Milan. That same year, she held her first solo show in Brazil, O que que Há de Novo, de Novo, Pussyquete? [What's New, Again, Pussycat?], at Galeria Millan in São Paulo. In 2002, she was awarded a grant from the Fundação Vitae [Vitae Foundation] and developed the project for the book-object Para Ver em Voz Alta [To See Out Loud], and her sound installation Deve Haver Nada a Ver [There Must Be Nothing to See] won a prize at the 1st Mostra RioArte of the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ) [Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro].
Critical Commentary
Lenora de Barros's artistic trajectory is marked by the influence of concretism, both through her family, via her father, the artist Geraldo de Barros (1923 - 1998), and through her interest in concrete poetry, especially that of the Noigandres group, formed by Augusto de Campos (1931), Haroldo de Campos (1929 - 2003) and Décio Pignatari (1927 - 2012). Her early works took place in the field of poetry and, in 1983, she exhibited visual poems at the 17th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, in a special section devoted to videotext, a genre then in full effervescence, curated by Julio Plaza (1938 - 2003).
Interested in the "verbivocovisual" quality of the word, to use the concretists' expression, she explores the simultaneity of verbal and visual communication, developing work within the visual arts influenced by conceptual art and pop art. An example of her investigation of these relationships is the installation presented at the event Arte-Cidade 2 - A Cidade e Seus Fluxos [Art-City 2 - The City and Its Flows], 1994, in which ping-pong balls are the support for a visual and sound game. In cases like this, she adds to the visual aspect of the word its sound aspect, rather than the graphic one.
She often uses photography as a means of documenting performances staged before the camera. Examples of this resource are Poema [Poem], 1980, one of her first works, and the series Procuro-Me [Searching for Myself], 2002. In this series she incorporates strategies of intervention in the image, with digitally made overlays and cutouts, which recall the techniques used by Geraldo de Barros, especially in the series Sobras [Leftovers], 1996/1998. But she also carries out live performances, such as O Corpo Não Mente [The Body Does Not Lie], 1994, and Da Origem da Poesia [On the Origin of Poetry], 2000, among others.
The use of video returns in more recent works such as the series of video performances Não Quero Nem Ver [I Don't Even Want to See], 2005. A Mulher - Há Mulheres [The Woman - There Are Women], 2005, a video from the series in which a woolen cap over her face unravels while the artist lists phrases about female types, is an example of how strongly the cultural and theoretical universe of concrete poetry weighs in her work, but also of how elements of a discourse on the female condition and the social construction of its image appear in it.
Solo Exhibitions
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Game is Over, at Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Procuro-me [Searching for Myself], at Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto
2002 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2006 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Não Quero Nem Ver [I Don't Even Want to See], at Paço Imperial
Group Exhibitions
1982 - São Paulo SP - Arte pelo Telefone [Art by Telephone], at MIS/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - Arte na Rua [Art on the Street] - organized by MAC/USP and presented on billboards spread around the city. The event featured 75 artists
1983 - São Paulo SP - 17ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [17th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Niterói RJ - Tendências do Livro de Artista no Brasil - Arte Brasileira Atual: 1985 [Trends of the Artist's Book in Brazil - Current Brazilian Art: 1985], at Galeria de Artes UFF
1985 - São Paulo SP - Arte e Tecnologia [Art and Technology], at MAC/USP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Tendências do Livro de Artista no Brasil [Trends of the Artist's Book in Brazil], at CCSP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcriar [Transcreate], at MAC/USP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcriar [Transcreate], at CCSP - Divisão de Artes Plásticas
1988 - Campinas SP - 13º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas [13th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea José Pancetti
1994 - São Paulo SP - A Fotografia Contaminada [Contaminated Photography], at CCSP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Ex Libris/Home Page, at Paço das Artes
1996 - São Paulo SP - 4º Studio Unesp Sesc Senai de Tecnologias de Imagens [4th Unesp Sesc Senai Studio of Image Technologies], at Sesc Pompeia
1996 - São Paulo SP - 2ª United Artists: utopia [2nd United Artists: Utopia], at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - 24ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [24th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - 2º Território Expandido [2nd Expanded Territory], at Sesc Pompeia
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som de Antônio Carlos Jobim [The Image of the Sound of Antônio Carlos Jobim], at Paço Imperial
2002 - Austin (United States) - Brazilian Visual Poetry, at Mexic-Arte Museum
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som do Rock Pop Brasil [The Image of the Sound of Brazilian Pop Rock], at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artefoto, at CCBB
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1ª Mostra Rio Arte Contemporânea [Rio Contemporary Art Show], at MAM/RJ
2002 - São Paulo SP - Ópera Aberta: celebração [Open Opera: Celebration], at Casa das Rosas
2003 - Brasília DF - Artefoto, at CCBB
2003 - São Paulo SP - A Subversão dos Meios [The Subversion of Media], at Itaú Cultural
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Novas Aquisições 2003: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [New Acquisitions 2003: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at MAM/RJ
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tudo é Brasil [Everything Is Brazil], at Paço Imperial
2004 - São Paulo SP - Tudo é Brasil [Everything Is Brazil], at Itaú Cultural
2005 - Campos dos Goytacazes RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Sesc
2005 - Petrópolis RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Galeria Sesc Petrópolis
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Galeria Sesc Copacabana
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 - Barcelona (Spain) - Videometry: video as a measuring device in contemporary Brazilian art, at Galeria dels Àngels
2006 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Coletiva de Fotografia [Photography Group Show], at Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea
2006 - São Paulo SP - A Cidade para a Cidade [The City for the City], at Galeria Olido
2006 - São Paulo SP - Manobras Radicais [Radical Maneuvers], at CCBB
Source: Itaú Cultural
