Lotus Lobo (Belo Horizonte MG 1943)
Printmaker, draftswoman and painter.
In Belo Horizonte, Lotus Amanda Maria Lobo de Alvarenga studied fine arts at the Escola Guignard from 1962 to 1965. In 1963, she studied lithography with João Quaglia (1928) and mural technique with Inimá de Paula (1918 - 1999) and, between 1964 and 1966, took part in the experimental studio Grupo Oficina. She lived in Rio de Janeiro in 1968 and did an internship at Planus, a lithographic workshop specializing in editions for artists. The following year, she discovered a collection of lithographic plates bearing product labels from old Minas Gerais industries and developed a series of prints in which she printed these brands on transparent materials. With these works, she won the Itamaraty Prize at the 10th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [São Paulo International Biennial], in 1969. She received a French government scholarship and lived in Paris from 1971 to 1972, studying at the École Supérieure des Arts et Industries Graphiques and at the École d'Arts-Plastiques et Sciences de l'Art of the University of Paris. She taught printmaking at the Escola Guignard from 1966 to 1984 and then moved to Tiradentes, Minas Gerais. There, she was responsible for setting up and running the lithographic workshop Casa de Gravura Largo do Ó, and for coordinating the project Memória da Litografia no Estado [Memory of Lithography in the State]. She returned to Belo Horizonte in 1991 and continued teaching at the Escola Guignard. From 1993, she devoted herself to studio work and to projects on the history of industrial lithography in Minas Gerais.
Critical Commentary
Lotus Lobo's first prints start from architectural motifs linked to the towns of Minas Gerais: doors, balconies or church towers, while maintaining a dialogue with abstraction. In the Escola Guignard studio, she discovered lithographic stones and zinc plates, old matrices for printing maps, diplomas and labels. Interested in the graphic and memorial aspects of those images, she began research aimed at recovering these Minas Gerais industrial lithographic brands, making interventions and using the most varied supports. Later, she created abstract and organic forms based on these matrices.
The artist also stands out for having devoted herself, from 1988 onward, to a broad project to restore, preserve and disseminate the lithographic memory of Minas Gerais, carried out at the Casa de Gravura do Ó in Tiradentes.
Critiques
"Lótus, without fear or apprehension, driven by great courage and stamina, knowing perfectly well what she wants, with a cultural grounding born of much study and reading, gives herself body and soul to the eagerness to communicate and, attuned to our technological era, seeks in it the most representative symbols and signifiers and, through them, a renewal of her art in every latitude, in an insatiable attempt to signify in industrial codes the present industrial civilization, whose 'pathos', dwelling elsewhere in universal human intentions, is easily grasped by the public. (...) And, a legitimate product of the 'civilization of the image' of which René Huyghe speaks, born under the aegis of its tyranny, it is understandable that the artist should yield to its demands; yet, Mineira by state of grace, integrated into a process of acculturation that, sheltered among mountains, enters her through the pores, it is also understandable that she should turn to the things of Minas, selecting from among them the best distinctive regional images, appropriating them and raising them, through the magic of art, to universal and permanent expression (...)".
Pierre Santos
FESTIVAL DE INVERNO, 5. , Ouro Preto, 1971. Artistas mineiros 60/70. Texto de Pierre Santos. Ouro Preto: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 1971.
"For Lotus Lobo, the label that matters is the one produced by defunct printing works, on zinc or stone, on which a memory is printed, and it is with this that she works. On the discarded plates, Lotus looks for ways to keep the images from coming out reversed; for this, she uses tracing paper or acrylic. Her lithographs printed on transparent paper are produced as overlapping labels. In the acrylic works, she proposes a game for the viewer: Lotus prints labels on two acrylic sheets which, mounted on parallel rails, overlap, and the viewer can move them to form the most varied superimpositions. In these works, Lotus does not intervene in the plates, as she does in other lithographs. Although she always prints the labels, she may intervene in them, and often does, keeping the product's color code; the label of the butter tin follows the red and yellow code".
Leon Kossovitch e Mayra Laudanna
KOSSOVITCH, Leon e LAUDANNA, Mayra. A Cidade: encontros. In: GRAVURA: arte brasileira do século XX. Apresentação Ricardo Ribenboim; texto Leon Kossovitch, Mayra Laudanna, Ricardo Resende; design Rodney Schunck, Ricardo Ribenboim; fotografia da capa Romulo Fialdini. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 2000, p. 29.
Solo Exhibitions
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria Guignard
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Gravura Brasileira
1994 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte
2001 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria da Escola Guignard
Group Exhibitions
1963 - Belo Horizonte MG - 13th Municipal Fine Arts Salon
1963 - Juiz de Fora MG - 13th Juiz de Fora Fine Arts Salon - honorable mention
1963 - Belo Horizonte MG - 12th University Art Festival, at UEE - award winner
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - 13th University Arts Salon, at UEE - 1st prize
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - Artistas Mineiros [Artists from Minas Gerais], at AMAP
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - Grupo Oficina Group Show
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - Group show, at Galeria Grupiara
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - Fourteen Artists from Minas Gerais, at Galeria Guignard
1964 - Brasília DF - 1st Federal District Salon of Modern Art
1964 - Curitiba PR - 21st Paraná Fine Arts Salon
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - Group show, at Teatro Marília
1965 - Brasília DF - 2nd Federal District Salon of Modern Art
1965 - Porto Alegre RS - Six Artists from Minas
1965 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Young Printmakers, at Galeria do ICBEU
1966 - Belo Horizonte MG - 21st Municipal Fine Arts Salon
1966 - Belo Horizonte MG - Draftsmen and Printmakers of Minas Gerais, at Reitoria da UFMG
1967 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st Exhibition of the Belo Horizonte Printmaking Museum, at Palácio das Artes
1967 - Belo Horizonte MG - 22nd Municipal Fine Arts Salon
1968 - Brasília DF - International Contemporary Printmaking, at Galeria do Encontro
1968 - Brasília DF - Tres Aspectos del Grabado Contemporáneo Brasileño [Three Aspects of Contemporary Brazilian Printmaking], traveling through South and Central America, organized by Itamaraty
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - National Printmaking, at MNBA
1969 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon, at MAP
1969 - Ouro Preto MG - Artistas Mineiros [Artists from Minas Gerais], at 3º Festival de Inverno da UFMG
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Final Selection Exhibition for the 6th Paris Biennale, at MAM/RJ
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Pre-Paris Biennale, at MAM/RJ
1969 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - acquisition prize Itamaraty
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th French Culture Salon
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th National Salon of the Alliance Française - grand prize (scholarship in Paris)
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Do Corpo à Terra [From Body to Earth], at Parque Municipal de Belo Horizonte
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Evolution of Art in Minas from 1900 to 1970, at Palácio das Artes
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Semana de Vanguarda [Avant-Garde Week]. Do Corpo à Terra [From Body to Earth], at Parque Municipal
1970 - Campinas SP - 6th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC
1971 - Ouro Preto MG - Artistas Mineiros 60/70 [Artists from Minas Gerais 60/70], at 5º Festival de Inverno - UFMG
1971 - Ouro Preto MG - Artistas Mineiros [Artists from Minas Gerais], at 5º Festival de Inverno da UFMG
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Panorama of Current Art, at MAM/SP
1971 - Tokyo (Japan) - Tokyo Biennial
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Geração Guignard [Guignard Generation], at Palácio das Artes
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte/Brasil/Hoje - 50 Anos Depois [Art/Brazil/Today - 50 Years Later], at MAM/RJ
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later, at Galeria da Collectio
1972 - Tokyo (Japan) - The 8th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo
1973 - Juiz de Fora MG - Artistas Mineiros [Artists from Minas Gerais], at Galeria de Arte Celina
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Agora I [Art Now I], at MAM/RJ
1977 - Belo Horizonte MG - Um Ponto Qualquer Entre Alfa e Ômega [Any Point Between Alpha and Omega], at Palácio das Artes
1977 - Juiz de Fora MG - Lithographs, at Galeria Pró-Música
1978 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Minas Gerais Landscape, at Palácio das Artes
1978 - Belo Horizonte MG - Group show, at Casa Litográfica
1978 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Grabados Brasileños de Minas Gerais [Brazilian Prints from Minas Gerais], at Salon de Arte de C.A.N.T.V.
1978 - Vitória ES - Printmakers from Minas Gerais, at Galeria Homero Massena
1979 - Belém PA - Lótus Lobo and Antônio Grosso, at Galeria Angelus, Teatro da Paz
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th Nello Nuno Salon, at Fundação Clóvis Salgado. Palácio das Artes
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian Lithography, at Palácio das Artes
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Clóvis Salgado
1979 - Curitiba PR - 2nd Curitiba Annual Printmaking Show, at Centro de Criatividade
1979 - São Paulo SP - 6th Global Winter Salon, at Masp - special room
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th Nello Nuno Salon, at Palácio das Artes
1980 - Mexico City (Mexico) - 2nd Ibero-American Biennial of Art, Drawing and Printmaking, at Instituto Cultural Domecq
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th Visual Arts Salon of the Minas Gerais State Culture Council
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 8th Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th Global Winter Salon, at MAM/RJ
1981 - San Juan (Puerto Rico) - 5th Latin American Printmaking Biennial - grand prize
1981 - São Paulo SP - 8th Global Winter Salon, at Masp
1982 - Penápolis SP - 1st Meeting of National Printmakers
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1983 - Curitiba PR - 4th Curitiba City Printmaking Show, at Museu da Gravura
1983 - London (England) - Brazilian Festival of Arts, 6 Artists From Minas Gerais, at Dixon Gallery
1984 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian Printmaking, at Reitoria da UFMG
1984 - Curitiba PR - 6th Curitiba Pan-American Printmaking Show
1984 - Curitiba PR - Curitiba City Printmaking Show, at Fundação Cultural de Curitiba
1986 - Albuquerque (United States) - Brazilian Printmakers, at Universidade de Novo México
1986 - Belo Horizonte MG - Casa de Gravura Largo do Ó and Oficina Guaianases, Two Centers of Brazilian Lithography, at Espaço Cultural da Cemig
1986 - Juiz de Fora and Belo Horizonte MG - 25 Years of Art Lithography in Minas, at Espaço Mascarenhas e no Palácio das Artes
1986 - London (England) - 9th British International Print Biennale
1986 - Santa Fé (United States) - Brazilian Contemporary Prints, at Gallery of The Saint John's College
1987 - Athens (United States) - Brazilian Contemporary Prints, at Gallery Tate Student Center University of Georgia
1987 - Brasília DF - Casa de Gravura Largo do Ó: Drawings and Prints, at Embaixada da França
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Aspects of Lithography, at Sala Carlos Oswald do MNBA
1988 - Belo Horizonte MG - Lithographic Memory in Minas, at Museu Mineiro
1988 - Juiz de Fora MG - Pessoa, Pessoas [Person, People], at UFJF
1989 - Juiz de Fora MG - Cada Cabeça uma Sentença [Each Head a Sentence], at UFJF
1992 - Belo Horizonte MG - Ícones da Utopia [Icons of Utopia], at Palácio das Artes
1993 - Belo Horizonte MG - Escola Guignard Lithography Center, at Centro Cultural UFMG
1994 - Belo Horizonte MG - Guignard: 50 Years of an Art School, at Galeria Vidyã
1994 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Ephemeral in Brazilian Art: 1960s/70s
1994 - Belo Horizonte MG - Retrospective: 5 Years of Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte, at Museu Mineiro
1994 - Belo Horizonte MG - Lithographic Ink: Production and Application, at Centro Cultural UFMG
1994 - Mariana MG - Os Bracher [The Brachers], at Sala Afonso Ávila
1994 - Ouro Preto MG - Identidade Virtual [Virtual Identity], at Museu da Inconfidência
1994 - Penápolis SP - The Ephemeral in Brazilian Art: 1960s/70s, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
1994 - Porto Alegre RS - Atelier Livre of the Porto Alegre City Hall
1994 - Florianópolis SC - Atelier Livre, at Hall da Reitoria da UFSC
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - The Ephemeral in Brazilian Art: 1960s/70s, at Itaú Cultural
1995 - Belo Horizonte MG - Imagem Derivada [Derived Image]: A Look at the Unfolding of Printmaking Today, at MAP
1995 - Belo Horizonte MG - Second Annual, at Acervo Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte
1996 - Brasília DF - The Ephemeral in Brazilian Art: 1960s/70s, at Itaugaleria
1997 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Formation of Contemporary Art in Belo Horizonte, at MAP
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Pensar Gráfico: a Gravura da Linguagem [Graphic Thinking: The Printmaking of Language], at Paço Imperial
1999 - Belo Horizonte MG - Centro Cultural UFMG - 10 Years, at Centro Cultural UFMG
2000 - Belo Horizonte MG - Ars Brasilis, at Galeria de Arte do Minas Tênis Clube
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Belo Horizonte MG - Do Corpo à Terra [From Body to Earth]: A Radical Landmark in Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaú Cultural
2004 - Belo Horizonte MG - Pampulha, Collected Work: 1943-2003, at MAP
2005 - Belo Horizonte MG - 40/80: An Exhibition of Brazilian Art, at Léo Bahia Arte Contemporânea
Source: Itaú Cultural
