Luiz Zerbini (São Paulo SP 1959)
Multimedia artist.
At the age of four, Luiz Pierre Zerbini began taking painting lessons with Van Acker (1931 - 2000). He later studied photography with Carlos Moreira (1937) and watercolor with Dudi Maia Rosa (1946). Between 1978 and 1980, he attended the visual arts course at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (Faap) in São Paulo. In the early 1980s he moved to Rio de Janeiro, began working as set designer for the theater group Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone and gave performances in Rio bars together with the actress Regina Casé (1954). He held his first solo exhibition in 1982, at the Casa do Brasil in Madrid, Spain. In 1985, he occupied part of the Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Rio de Janeiro and received a Special Mention from the Jury. He took part in the 19th São Paulo International Biennial in 1987. A member of the so-called Geração 80 [80s Generation], he started out with painting but later worked with sculpture, video, drawing and photography. In 1995, he received the critics' grand prize in the visual arts category from the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (APCA). That same year, together with the artist Barrão (1959), the video and film editor Sérgio Mekler (1963) and the music producer Chico Neves, he founded the group Chelpa Ferro (an archaic expression meaning money), which works with sculpture, technological installations and electronic music.
Critical Commentary
In the 1980s, Luiz Zerbini produced figurative canvases presenting scenes of surrealist inspiration, such as A Tragédia É um Acúmulo de Mal-Entendidos [Tragedy Is an Accumulation of Misunderstandings], 1987. The artist often used photography in collages conceived as studies for large-scale canvases. He also employed photographic framing in works such as Zoo, 1985, in which he engages in a dialogue with pop art as well. In Piscina das Crianças [Children's Pool], from the same year, the dreamlike quality and the extremely vibrant, luminous colors stand out. He later made self-portraits in which he appears surrounded by a profusion of colors and images.
In 1995, Zerbini joined the artist Barrão (1959), the image editor Sérgio Mekler (1963) and the music producer Chico Neves to create the group Chelpa Ferro, which combines image and sound in performances and installations. The group explores electronic and industrial sounds, creates new uses and meanings for old electronic equipment and also uses noises made by everyday objects, such as printers, cash registers, ping-pong balls or the footsteps of exhibition visitors. In an installation the group presented at the 26th São Paulo International Biennial in 2004, a set of dry tree branches and trunks was set in motion by electric pedals operated by the public, producing a soft sound like the wind blowing through the building.
In works shown in 1999, such as the series Pinturas Dentro D'água [Underwater Paintings], Luiz Zerbini used a Chinese technique in which paper is dyed underwater in a solution of paint and algae. With this process, the artist produces abstract paintings in luminous colors that reflect the fluidity of the aqueous medium. As the artist Sérgio Romagnolo (1957) notes, at first sight these paintings seem easy and seductive, but they carry with them questions related to popular and conceptual art.
Critiques
"The trapeze tears through the air to the sound of a blind violin. Goal! The stroke explodes on the canvas, a pile driver in the earth. It's circus. The ball crosses the box, the star player traps it on his chest and shoots. It's art. Tracing lines, colors, curves, this team subverts any position of meaning. Only sensations fill the heads of this eleven. Cultural workers. No excessive feeling but the color and vigor of the paint. Beloved heirs of the shopping malls, hypermarkets, video games and fast food of this cool, totally crazy postmodern Brazil. Our team takes flight toward Mexico. In its wake, the panic panel of saturated megacities. By the way, a goal from this team adds value to any art collection".
Chacal
PINTURAS: escrete volador. São Paulo: Subdistrito Comercial de Arte, 1986.
Solo Exhibitions
1982 - Madrid (Spain) - Solo, at Casa do Brasil
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Subdistrito
1988 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Subdistrito
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at EAV/Parque Lage
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Subdistrito
1991 - Recife PE - Solo, at Pasárgada Arte Contemporânea
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Itaugaleria
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Subdistrito
1993 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at MAM/RJ
1995 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Camargo Vilaça
1997 - La Paz (Bolivia) - Solo, at Museo Tambo Quirquincho
2002 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2006 - São Paulo SP - Do Corpo à Paisagem [From the Body to the Landscape], at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
Group Exhibitions
1980 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson and Luiz Zerbini, at Teatro Lira Paulistana
1981 - Madrid (Spain) - Leonilson and Luiz Zerbini, at Galeria de Arte da Casa do Brasil
1984 - Fortaleza CE - 7th National Visual Arts Salon - special mention from the jury
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Art in the Street 2
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Como Vai Você, Geração 80? [How Are You, 80s Generation?], at EAV/Parque Lage
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Novos Cariocas, at Casa da Cultura
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Old Habit: Brazilian Drawing, at EAV/Parque Lage
1986 - Guadalajara (Mexico) - Pinturas: escrete volador [Paintings: Flying Team]
1986 - São Paulo SP - The New Dimension of the Object, at MAC/USP
1987 - São Paulo SP - 19th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 88 x 68: um balanço dos anos [88 x 68: A Review of the Years]
1988 - São Paulo SP - Eduardo Brandão Private Collection, at Galeria Casa Triângulo
1989 - Curitiba PR - Canale, Fonseca, Milhazes, Pizarro, Zerbini, at Museu Municipal de Arte de Curitiba
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Canale, Fonseca, Milhazes, Pizarro, Zerbini, at Funarte/RJ
1989 - São Paulo SP - Canale, Fonseca, Milhazes, Pizarro, Zerbini, at MAC/USP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Masp
1989 - São Paulo SP - Fábio Cardoso, Leonilson, Daniel Senise and Luiz Zerbini, at Masp
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arqueos Projects, at Fundição Progresso
1991 - Monterrey (Mexico) - Mito y Magia en América: los Ochenta, at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - BR/80: Brazilian Painting of the 1980s, at Fundação Casa França-Brasil
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - As Artes do Poder [The Arts of Power], at Paço Imperial
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Eco Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - São Paulo SP - João Sattamini/Subdistrito, at Casa das Rosas
1992 - São Paulo SP - Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program, at CCSP
1993 - Niterói RJ - 2nd On the Way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Papel do Rio [Rio on Paper], at Paço Imperial
1993 - Washington D. C. (United States) - Brazil: Images of the 1980s and 1990s, at Art Museum of the Americas
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2ª Mostra de Artes Plásticas: espaço [2nd Visual Arts Exhibition: Space], at Espaço Cultural dos Correios
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: Images of the 1980s and 1990s, at MAM/RJ
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Space as Seen by: Araken, Barrão, Cláudio Tozzi, Ivald Granato, João Magalhães, Luiz Zerbini and Rubens Gerchman, at Espaço Cultural dos Correios
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Exchange Show: Twelve Painters from San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, at MAM/RJ
1994 - San Francisco (United States) - The Exchange Show: Twelve Painters from San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX [20th Century Brazil Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - Brazil: Images of the 1980s and 1990s, at Casa das Rosas
1994 - São Paulo SP - Seascapes, at Galeria Nara Roesler
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Infância Perversa: fábulas sobre a memória e o tempo [Perverse Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time], at MAM/RJ
1995 - Salvador BA - A Infância Perversa: fábulas sobre a memória e o tempo [Perverse Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time], at MAM/BA
1995 - São Paulo SP - The 1980s: The Stage of Diversity, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Guignard: The Artist's Choice, at Paço Imperial
1998 - Goiânia GO - The 1980s, at Galeria de Arte Marina Potrich
1998 - Niterói RJ - Mirror of the Biennial, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Image of Sound of Caetano Veloso, at Paço Imperial
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at Masp
1998 - São Paulo SP - Football Art, at Empresa das Artes
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - 2nd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - Ciberarte: zonas de interação [Cyberart: Interaction Zones], at Usina do Gasômetro
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Image of Sound of Chico Buarque, at Paço Imperial
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mostra Rio Gravura [Rio Printmaking Show]. Impressões Contemporâneas [Contemporary Impressions], at Paço Imperial
2000 - Havana (Cuba) - 7th Havana Biennial, at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Image of Sound of Gilberto Gil, at Paço Imperial
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brasil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha, at Museu Histórico Nacional
2000 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Expanded Territory, at Sesc Pompeia
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Human Figure in the Itaú Collection, at Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha, at Fundação Bienal
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Image of Sound of Antônio Carlos Jobim, at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Watercolor, at Centro Cultural Light
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/RJ
2001 - São Paulo SP - 27th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Arco das Rosas: marchand como curador [Arco das Rosas: The Dealer as Curator], at Casa das Rosas
2001 - São Paulo SP - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/SP
2002 - Barra Mansa RJ - Sidaids, at Galeria de Arte Sesc Barra Mansa
2002 - Liverpool (England) - Pot
2002 - Niterói RJ - The Recent MAC Collection, at MAC/Niterói
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 27th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/RJ
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Culture in Times of AIDS, at MNBA
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artefoto, at CCBB
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Identities: The Brazilian Portrait in the Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at MAM/RJ
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sidaids, at Galeria de Arte Sesc Barra Mansa
2002 - Salvador BA - 27th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/BA
2002 - São Gonçalo RJ - Sidaids, at Sesc São Gonçalo
2002 - São Paulo SP - Paralela, at a warehouse at Avenida Matarazzo, 530, São Paulo. Exhibition conceived and organized jointly by the galleries Fortes Vilaça, Luisa Strina, Casa Triângulo and Brito Cimino
2002 - São Paulo SP - Pot, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2002 - São Paulo SP - Rotativa Fase 2 [Rotating Phase 2], at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2003 - Brasília DF - Artefoto, at CCBB
2003 - Niterói RJ - Sidaids, at Galeria de Arte Sesc
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Chelpa Ferro, at MAM/RJ
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - The New Geometry, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art in Rio Collections, at MAM/RJ
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Onde Está Você, Geração 80? [Where Are You, 80s Generation?], at CCBB
2004 - São Paulo SP - Still Life / Natureza Morta, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
2004 - São Paulo SP - Vol., at Galeria Vermelho
2004 - São Paulo SP - Summer Bazaar, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2004 - São Paulo SP - Summer Bazaar, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2004 - São Paulo SP - Still Life / Natureza Morta, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
2004 - São Paulo SP - Vol., at Galeria Vermelho
2005 - São Paulo SP - Erótica: os sentidos na arte [Erotica: The Senses in Art], at CCBB
2006 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Erótica: os sentidos na arte [Erotica: The Senses in Art], at CCBB
2006 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Só Pintura, at Mercedes Viegas Arte Contemporânea
2006 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Um Século de Arte Brasileira - Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [A Century of Brazilian Art - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at MAM/RJ
2006 - São Paulo SP - Fortes Vilaça at Choque Cultural, at Galeria Choque Cultural
2006 - São Paulo SP - Paralela 2006, at Pavilhão dos Estados
2006 - São Paulo SP - Um Século de Arte Brasileira - Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [A Century of Brazilian Art - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at Pinacoteca do Estado
2007 - Curitiba PR - Um Século de Arte Brasileira - Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [A Century of Brazilian Art - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at Museu Oscar Niemeyer
2007 - Salvador BA - Um Século de Arte Brasileira - Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand [A Century of Brazilian Art - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection], at MAM/BA
2007 - São Paulo SP - Itaú Contemporâneo: arte no Brasil 1981-2006 [Itaú Contemporary: Art in Brazil 1981-2006], at Itaú Cultural
2008 - Madrid (Spain) - 27th ARCO, at Instituto Feria de Madrid
Source: Itaú Cultural
