Luiz Paulo Baravelli (São Paulo SP 1942)
Luiz Paulo Baravelli is a painter, draftsman, sculptor, engraver, teacher and chronicler. He studied drawing and painting at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), in São Paulo, between 1960 and 1962. During this period, he studied with Wesley Duke Lee (1931-2010), whose works became an important reference in his production. In 1964, he started the Architecture course at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (FAU/USP). He taught drawing at the Higher School of Industrial Design of Ribeirão Preto and at the Institute of Arts and Decoration (Iade), in São Paulo. He was one of the founders of Escola Brasil, alongside Carlos Fajardo (1941), José Resende (1945) and Frederico Nasser (1945).
Between 1975 and 1976, he co-editor of the magazine Malasartes and, between 1981 and 1983, of the magazine Arte in São Paulo. He also wrote chronicles for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, from 1985 to 1986. At the beginning of his career, he produced paintings that were close to pop art. In the late 1960s, it began to create objects from industrialized materials. From the 1970s onwards, he dedicated himself exclusively to painting, creating works that often used irregularly shaped supports. The urban landscape and the human figure were predominant themes in his work.
Critical Comment
The works of Luiz Paulo Baravelli from the mid-1960s are decisively influenced by his professor Wesley Duke Lee. (1931 - 2010). According to historian Cláudia Valladão de Mattos, "in the paintings that Baravelli painted at the time, the presence of compositional solutions close to those of Wesley, such as the use of geometric cuts and [...] the tendency to compilation and the exploration of numerous means."1 At the same time, he is interested in pop art made in England, especially by Ron Kitaj (1932), Peter Blake (1932), David Hockney (1937) and Richard Hamilton (1922).
In the canvases made Until 1967, he works with pop iconography and traditional painting procedures. Gathers graphic icons, drawings and geometric figures with marked brush strokes. At the end of the 1960s, he became increasingly interested in the use of unconventional materials. Gradually, he moves away from the craftsmanship of the painting and starts to work with objects assembled from projects. It deals with industrialized materials such as Formica, Acrylic, Plywood and Iron, which it cuts, creating regular shapes that it later disposes of in an impersonal way. Resende (1945) and Frederico Nasser (1945) at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ) and at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC/USP). The joint effort encourages them to continue working together. That year, they set up the Escola Brasil: - a space where artists teach free art courses. Still in 1970, Baravelli decided to dedicate himself exclusively to painting. According to the art critic Olívio Tavares Araújo, at that time "he retires to a daily and intense exercise of observational drawing".2 in 1974, he makes his first individual exhibition, in which he shows drawings of observation and paintings. His works are figurative and averse to the idea of the vanguard.
In the 1980s, Baravelli makes irregularly shaped canvases, which he calls "cuts". From then on, this type of work becomes constant in its production. In 1996, the artist shows the white series at the Nara Roesler gallery, in São Paulo. In it, according to the criticism Marilia Saboya de Albuquerque, she takes up some "figure/background questions that preceded the clippings".3
Notes
1 MATTOS, Cláudia Valladão de. between paintings and sculptures: Wesley and the founders of Escola Brasil. São Paulo: Editorial Discourse, 1997, p. 39.
2 ARAÚJO, Olívio Tavares. Parts of an essay (D'Aprés Baravelli). In: BARAVELLI, Luiz Paulo. Part of the Whole / Parts of Now: (Painting, 1983-1987) / (Series of the Ovals, 1987). São Paulo: São Paulo Art Gallery, 1987. p. 8.
3 ALBUQUERQUE, Marilia Saboya de. About the White series. Galeria Nara Roesler, 1996. Available at: [http://www.nararoesler.com.br/artistas_txtg_p.asp?idartista=31&unero=3]. Accessed on: 29 Aug. 2005.
Criticism
"(...) Baravelli seeks to establish the existing relationships between time-space, the simultaneous times of human conscience and cultural references. The artist's time-space is scientific. For him, there is a constant universal interrelationship, the time and space of physics, the relationships that we guess in the theory of relativity and in the popular notion of interplanetary travel. This is the artist's first planning. The simultaneity of human consciousness, holder of memories and past, present and future. The cultural reference in these relationships is provided by the drawing, a mere indicative of ideas and knowledge. Represented and its meaning The images self-commented themselves by constantly alerting the viewer to their illusory character, their representational character. This is the commentary within the commentary, the iconic language that is recognized but still assumes its socially endorsed role: to represent through the image". Jacob. versus: 10 Years of Art Criticism. Jacob Klintowitz. Pietro Maria Bardi. Baravelli usually remembers, approvingly, that 'all limitation is a support'. This is a surprising position, in an artist as inventive and diverse as he, whose protein temperament, with his metamorphoses and avatars, almost disorients the lesser-for-warned observers. (...) because it is true that he moves with the most absolute naturalness between supports, techniques and even varied styles. Sometimes it works on the traditional format of the canvas, the window rectangle, sometimes on cuts and/or wood reliefs with unexpected contours. Sometimes it uses the sensual texture of the encaustic, full-bodied, tasting, sometimes an absolutely flat painting, which is almost a brush drawing. Sometimes he resorts to an almost realistic and poetic figuration made from a drawing of a living model, sometimes to the most forceful and expressive distortions that burst the figure with a violence comparable to that of Picasso's most dramatic phases. Throughout his work, he enters into various themes, ranging from the undifferentiated and infinite, imaginary landscape to the human being in disproportionately expanded and investigated details. And, sometimes, it still reduces figuration to a maximum synthesis, 'radical representations of visible reality' that become virtually abstract constructions. And, in the meantime, behind all this, there is a unique project, absolutely accurate and circumscribed, limited and supported: a project to do painting".
OLÍVIO TAVARES DE ARAÚJO
ARAÚJO, Olívio Tavares de. Luiz Paulo Baravelli Gallery: Revista de Arte, São Paulo: Area Editorial, n. 7, p. 24-28, 1987.
Testimations
"For me, style is an area and not a road. the idea of the vanguard (military) I oppose the idea of cultivation (agricultural). This area confines or superimposes other areas, by other artists, or is crossed by vanguard troops that arrive, leave their mark and leave the other edge. Thus, without any Cabotinism, I define my 'style' as being a baravelist".
Luiz Paulo Baravelli
BARAVELLI, Luiz Paulo. Baravelli. (Texto manuscript).
Individual exhibitions
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paintings 72/75, at MAM/RJ
1977 - São Paulo SP - Recent Paintings, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1979 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1980 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1982 - São Paulo SP - Paintings on indeterminacy, in Paulo Figueiredo Art Gallery
1984 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at the Tina Zappoli Gallery
1984 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the São Paulo Gallery
1985 - São Paulo SP - Recent Recortes, at Galeria São Paulo
1985 - Tokyo (Japan) - Individual, at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
1989 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria São Paulo
1991 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the gallery Documentation
1991 - São Paulo SP - Legends of the beginning, at Galeria São Paulo
1992 - São Paulo SP - Baravelli: 50 years old, at MAC/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - GOD, at Galeria São Paulo
1993 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria São Paulo
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Paço Imperial
1996 - Belo Horizonte MG - White Series, at Kolams Art Gallery
1996 - São Paulo SP - White Series, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - Panoramas, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2002 - São Paulo SP - Interior/Exterior, at Galeria Nara Roesler
2004 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Multiple Art Gallery
2004 - São Paulo SP - series of couples, at the Nara Roesler gallery
Collective exhibitions
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - Itamaraty Acquisition Award
1967 - São Paulo SP - 1st Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Baravelli, Fajardo, Nasser, Resende, at Petite Galerie
1968 - São Paulo SP - Baravelli, Fajardo, Nasser, Resende, at the Art-Art Gallery
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Baravelli, Fajardo, Nasser, Resende, at MAM/RJ
1970 - São Paulo SP - Baravelli, Fajardo, Nasser, Resende, at MAC/USP
1971 - Assunção (Paraguay) - Carlos Fajardo, Frederico Nasser, Luiz Paulo Baravelli, at the Brazilian Cultural Mission Gallery
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - Assunção (Paraguay) - Luiz Paulo Baravelli, Frederico Nasser, José Resende and Carlos Fajardo, at the Brazilian Cultural Mission Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Arte Brasil/Today: 50 years later, at the Collectio Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Brazil Plastic 72 - Special Room, at the Bienal Foundation - Acquisition Award
1972 - São Paulo SP - Sesquicentennial Art Exhibition of Independence and Plastic Brazil - 72, at Fundação Bienal
1972 - São Paulo SP - Multiples Brasileiros, at the Multiple Art Gallery
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1974 - Campinas SP - 9th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MACC
1974 - São Paulo SP - 6th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1974 - São Paulo SP - Galeria Luisa Strina: Inaugural Exhibition, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1975 - São Paulo SP - 7th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - ARTE Agora I, at MAM/RJ - Light Acquisition
1977 - Belo Horizonte MG - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1977 - Brasília DF - 5th Global Winter Hall, at the Cultural Foundation of the Federal District
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th Global Winter Hall, at the MNBA
1977 - São Paulo SP - 9th Panorama of current Brazilian art, in the MAM/SP
1977 - São Paulo SP - 5th Global Winter Hall, at MASP
1978 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 15 young artists from Brazil, at the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires
1978 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Four Brazilian artists
1978 - São Paulo SP - 10th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1978 - São Paulo SP - 15 young artists from Brazil, at MAB/FAAP
1978 - São Paulo SP - 5th Global Winter Hall, at MASP
1978 - São Paulo SP - The object in art: Brazil 60s, in the MAB/FAAP
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - Back to the figure: 60's, at the Lasar Segall Museum
1980 - São Paulo SP - 12th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1980 - São Paulo SP - Art and Research, at MAC/USP
1981 - São Paulo SP - 13th Panorama de Arte Current Brazilian, at MAM/SP
1981 - São Paulo SP - Art and Research, at MAC/USP
1981 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian artists, at the São Paulo Art Office
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3 X 4 Large Formats, at the Rio Empresarial Center Gallery
1983 - São Paulo SP - 14th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - 17th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Madeira, Matter of Art, at MAM/RJ
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Viva a Painting, at Petite Galerie
1984 - São Paulo SP - The urban dimensions and Industrial in Figurative Painting in São Paulo, at Traço Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at the Bienal Foundation
1984 - Venice (Italy) - 41st Venice Biennial
1985 - Brasília DF - Brazilianness and Independence, at the Cláudio Santoro National Theater
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Velha Mania: Brazilian design, at EAV/Parque Lage
1985 - São Paulo SP - Highlights of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Trends of the Artist's Book in Brazil, at the CCSP
1985 - Tokyo (Japan) - Today's Art of Brazil, at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
1986 - New York (United States) - Sin Brazilian Artists at the Cultural Snug Harbor Center
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Christian Dior Exhibition of Contemporary Art: Painting, at Paço Imperial
1986 - São Paulo SP - 17th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1986 - São Paulo SP - The landscape in the view of Aguilar, Baravelli, Granato, Marcello Nitsche, Tomoshigue, at the Multiple Art Gallery
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1987 - São Paulo SP - Parts of the whole, at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - 63/66 Figure and object, at the Millan Gallery
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 years: Recent acquisitions and donations at MAC/USP
1988 - São Paulo SP - Parts of now, at Galeria São Paulo
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Collection Galeria São Paulo, at the São Paulo Art Gallery
1990 - Atami (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Brasília DF - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - São Paulo SP - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, at the Brazil-Japan Foundation.
1990 - São Paulo SP - The multiple in the view of Baravelli, Marcello Nitsche, Maria Bonomi, Noberto Nicola, Peticov and Vlavianos, at the Multiple Art Gallery
1990 - Sapporo (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Tokyo (Japan) - 9th Exhibition Brazil-Japan of Contemporary Art
1991 - Havana (Cuba) - 4th Havana Biennial - Special Room
1991 - São Paulo SP - Legends of the beginning, at Galeria São Paulo
1991 - São Paulo Paulo SP - National X International in Brazilian Art, at the Paço das Artes
1992 - Campinas SP - Awarded at the Salons de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas, at MACC
1992 - Poços de Caldas MG - Brazilian Modern Art: Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, at the Casa da Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st on the way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at Paço Imperial
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Coca-Cola 50 years with Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - São Paulo SP - The seduction of volumes: the three-dimensional from MAC, at MAC/USP
1992 - São Paulo SP - White dominant, at the São Paulo Art Gallery
1992 - São Paulo SP - Coca-Cola 50 years with art, at MAM/SP
1992 - São Paulo SP - 7th Brazilian Art Salon, at the Mokiti Okada Okada M.O.A.
1994 - Poços de Caldas MG - Unibanco Collection: Exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of Unibanco, at the Casa da Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bandeiras: 60 artists honor the 60th anniversary of USP, at MAC/USP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Century 20th, at the Bienal Foundation
1994 - São Paulo SP - Landscapes
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Unibanco Collection: Exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of Unibanco, at MAM/RJ
1996 - Niterói RJ - Contemporary Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection MAC/Niterói
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history at the MAC/USP collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Bandeiras, at the Art Gallery do Sesi
1996 - São Paulo SP - 2nd United Artists: Utopia, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - Niterói RJ - Mirror of the Bienal, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - São Paulo SP - The art of exhibiting art, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - Collection Art Gallery São Paulo, at the São Paulo Art Gallery
1998 - São Paulo SP - Elective Affinities I: The Collector's Look, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Art, at Sérgio Caribé Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - 1970s, at the São Paulo Art Gallery
1998 - São Paulo SP - Figurations: 30 years in Brazilian art, at MAC/USP
1999 - São Paulo SP - 8 Brazilian artists, at Sérgio Caribé Galeria de Arte
1999 - São Paulo SP - daily life/art. Consumption - Paratodos, at Itaú Cultural
1999 - São Paulo SP - Transparencies, at the Rosa Barbosa Art Office
2000 - Belém PA - Arte Pará 2000, at the Museu de Arte do Belém
2000 - São Paulo SP - The human figure in the Itaú Collection, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art Museum: 40 years old, at MAB/FAAP
2002 - Fortaleza CE - Ceará rediscovers Brazil, at Centro Dragão do Mar de Mar de Art and Culture
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporânea 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of the Now: Recent Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2002 - São Paulo SP - Multiple Brazilians 30 years later, at Multipla de Arte
2002 - São Paulo SP - Open Opera: Celebration, at Casa das Rosas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Gate 2, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2002 - São Paulo SP - Who does the Biennials, at the Multiple Art Gallery
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Grupo Rex/Escola Brasil, MAM/RJ
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilianart Project, at Almacén Art Gallery
2003 - São Paulo SP - The Subversion of the Media, at Itaú Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Compressors and Condensers
2003 - São Paulo SP - Fluid Aesthetics, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - MAC USP 40 years: Contemporary interfaces, at MAC/USP
2003 - São Paulo SP - My friends, at MAM/SP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Bienais, at the Hotel Sofitel São Paulo
2004 - São Paulo SP - New acquisitions: 1995 - 2003, at MAB/FAAP
2004 - São Paulo SP - The price of seduction: from the corset to the silicone, at Itaú Cultural
2005 - São Paulo SP - Art in Metropolis, at the Tomie Ohtake Institute
Bienais
1991 4th Havana Biennial - Special Room - Havana, Cuba
1989 20th São Paulo International Biennial - Bienal Foundation - São Paulo, SP
1984 41st Venice Biennale - Venice, Italy
1983 17th São Paulo International Biennial - Fundação Bienal - São Paulo, SP
1967 9th São Paulo International Biennial - Foundation Bienal - Itamaraty Acquisition Award - São Paulo, SP
Salons
1992 - Awarded at the Contemporary Art Salons of Campinas - MACC - Campinas, SP -7th Brazilian Art Salon - Mokiti Okada Foundation M.O.A. - São Paulo, SP
1977 - 5th Global Winter Hall - Cultural Foundation of the Federal District - Brasília, DF - 5th Global Winter Hall - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro, RJ
1972 - Brazil Plastic 72 - Special Room - Foundation Bienal - Acquisition Award - São Paulo, SP
1967 - 1st Young Contemporary Art - MAC/USP - São Paulo, SP
Source: Itaú Cultural
