Nicolas Vlavianos (Athens, Greece 1929 - 2022)
Nicolas Vlavianos was a sculptor and teacher. Between 1955 and 1956, he dedicated himself to painting under the guidance of Costa Elíades, in Athens, Greece. He later moved to Paris, where he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière with Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967) and at the Académie du Feu with Laszlo Szabo (1913-1984). He participated in the Réalités Nouvelles salon in 1958 and 1959, in the same city. He established himself in São Paulo in 1961. From 1969 onwards, he began to work as a three-dimensional expression teacher at the Faculty of Plastic Arts of the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP). He was awarded at the 7th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC/USP), at the 1st National Biennial of Plastic Arts in Salvador (Bahia) and at the 4th Salon of Modern Art In Brasília, in the years 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1967, respectively.
Between 1972 and 1988, he participated in several editions of the current Brazilian art panorama at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM/SP). He received the award from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA) in 1974 and 2001. In the same year of 1974, he was also awarded at the 5th Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea. His work was the subject of retrospectives at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), in 1993, and at the FAAP Brazilian Art Museum in 2001.
Critical Comment
Nicolas Vlavianos had already exhibited At Réalités Nouvelles, in Paris, dedicated to abstraction, when he came to Brazil in 1961, to participate in the 6th International Biennial of São Paulo. On the whole, its sculptural production will remain at the limit between figuration and abstraction, which marks the work of many Brazilian artists at the time.
The artist produces small pieces composed of juxtaposed, asymmetrical and irregular geometric planes. The sculptor also produces the series Characters, whose anthropomorphic figures, monumental works created from the opposition between smooth geometric planes and metal folds, synthesize their research on the relationships between individual and machine. Astronauts develop similar questions. However, the opposition only between smooth plates and metal folds becomes the uniqueness given by the cubes welded together, resembling religious icons. The reliefs express an interest in the informal painting of the period, in particular, in the investigation of textures and in the presence of the gestuality.
In the 1970s, the theme of the machine remains, but the solutions diversify: species of gears appear Combined with hatched or smooth surfaces, articulated tubes and serpentine incisions that generate rhythm and movement, as in the Plant Series. The tension between organic and geometric shapes remains during the following years, with formal variations.
In the 1990s, ironically, it starts to work with shapes that simulate domestic objects.
Criticism
"Inside From this point of view, we could say that the constructive vocation has also been imposed on Vlavians, who once played his immense anthropomorphic characters and now makes impeccable games of brilliant and exact rhythms and planes. Sensitive: It derives not from rules, nor from formulas, nor from logarithms or calculations, nor from a nostalgia of absolute and mathematical order. It derives exclusively from the game between eye and space, between hand and form, between intuition, reason and emotion". Araújo
ARAÚJO, Olívio Tavares de. Vlavians today: Vlavians always. In: VLAVIANS, Nicolas. Vlavians. N.P.
"The sculpture by Nicolas Vlavianos was consolidated in a first phase, in the years 1956-1961, in Paris, when the artist traveled to Brazil, raging unexpectedly and definitively in São He had left his hometown of Athens in 1956 and, at the beginning of his stay in France, he soon renounced painting - his artistic activity from the beginning - to choose with a resolution for the three-dimensional area of expression. His work in metal is today vast, including stages in which incorporated diverse cultural experiences into a proper and coherent nucleus of language with the characteristics of the international sculpture of the generation to which it belongs."
Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter. the sculptor Nicolas Vlavianos. In: VLAVIANS, Nicolas. Nicolas Vlavians. N.P.
Individual exhibitions
1961 - Athens (Greece) - Individual, at the French Institute
1962 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria São Luís
1964 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Astreia
1964 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Seta
1965 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Astreia
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, MAM/RJ
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Petite Galerie
1971 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at MAB/FAAP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the gallery Astrorea
1974 - São Paulo SP - Individual, in the Multiple Art
1976 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Multiple de Art
1976 - Rome (Italy) - Individual, at the Embassy Brazilian
1977 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at MAC/USP
1978 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Multiple Art
1979 - Brasília DF - Individual, at Galeria Oscar Seraphico
1980 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Skultura
1980 - Recife PE - Individual, at Clementina Duarte
1981 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at Galeria Guignard
1982 - New York (United States) - Individual, at the Kouros Gallery
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at Singular
1984 - New York (United States) - Individual, at Kouros Gallery
1985 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Skultura
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Galeria Aktuel
1989 - New York (United States) - Objects d'Art, at Kouros Gallery
1991 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Individual, at Centro Cultural E. Figueiredo
1993 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective: 35 years of sculpture, at Masp
1993 - São José dos Campos SP - Individual, at the Cassiano Ricardo Cultural Foundation
1999 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Multipla de Arte
Collective exhibitions
1958 - Paris (France) - Artists Grecs de Paris
1958 - Paris (France) - Salon Réalités Nouvelles
1959 - Paris (France) - Salon Réalités Nouvelles
1959 - Paris (France) - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture
1960 - Athens (Greece) - 6th Pan Hellenic Exhibition
1961 - Paris (France) - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture
1961 - Paris (France) - Salon de Mai
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1962 - Jerusalem (Israel) - Novas Formas Group
1962 - Haifa (Israel) - Grupo Novas Formas
1962 - Tel Aviv (Israel) - Grupo Novas Formas
1963 - São Paulo SP - 1st Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, at FAAP
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - Itamaraty Acquisition Award
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, at MAP
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - E. Wolff Collection, at MAM/RJ
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - 20th Modern Art Salon - 1st Prize
1965 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAM/RJ - 2nd Award in Sculpture
1965 - São Paulo SP - 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAC/USP - 2nd Award in Sculpture
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Biennial
1965 - Washington (United States) - South American Esso Salon
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Fine Arts - Special Prize
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão de Abril, MAM/RJ
1966 - São Paulo SP - 8 artists, at Atrium
1967 - Brasília DF - 4th Salon of Modern Art - Acquisition Award
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão das Caixas, at Petite Galerie
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation
1967 - São Paulo SP - Sculptures, at Galeria Mirante das Artes
1968 - Campinas SP - 4th Salon of Contemporary Art of Campinas, at MacC
1970 - São Paulo SP - Outdoor exhibition, at Praça Roosevelt, on the occasion of its inauguration
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, in the MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - 6th Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian multiplied art, at Multipla de Arte
1972 - São Paulo SP - Multiples Brasileiros, at Galeria Multiple Art
1973 - São Paulo SP - 7th Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1974 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Collective, at Galeria Ziegler
1974 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon - State Council of Culture Award
1974 - São Paulo SP - 6th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art MAM/SP
1975 - Budapest (Hungary) - 3rd Small Sculpture Biennial - Best Sculptor Award
1975 - Milan (Italy) - Collective, at the Museo d'Arte Moderna da Fondazione Pagani
1975 - São Paulo SP - 7th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1978 - São Paulo SP - 10th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1978 - São Paulo SP - 1st Exhibition of the Mobile and the Unusual Object, at the Paço das Artes
1978 - São Paulo SP - The object in the art: Brasil Inios 60, at MAB/FAAP
1978 - São Paulo SP - Object in Art: Brazil 60s, at MAB/FAAP
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian sculptors, at Galeria Aktuell
1980 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - OCHENTA AÑOS DE ARTE Brasileño, at Banco Itaú
1981 - Guarujá SP - Outdoor Sculpture, at the Jequitimar Hotel
1981 - São Paulo SP - 13th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAC/USP
1982 - Bauru SP - 80 years of Brazilian art
1982 - Marília SP - 80 years of Brazilian art
1982 - São Paulo SP - 80 years of Brazilian art, at MAB/FAAP
1982 - São Paulo SP - A century of sculpture in Brazil, at Masp
1983 - Belo Horizonte MG - 80 years of Brazilian art, at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation. Palácio das Artes
1983 - Campinas SP - 80 years of Brazilian art, at Macc
1983 - Curitiba PR - 80 years of Brazilian art, at MAC/PR
1983 - Ribeirão Preto SP - 80 years of Brazilian art
1983 - Santo André SP - 80 years of Brazilian art, at the Municipality of Santo André
1983 - São Paulo SP - Releitura Project, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1984 - Curitiba PR - Simões de Assis Art Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition, at Simões de Assis Art Gallery
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - 16th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1985 - São Paulo SP - Highlights of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - 19th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1990 - São Paulo SP - The multiple in the view of Baravelli, Marcello Nitsche, Maria Bonomi, Noberto Nicola, Peticov and Vlavianos, at Multipla de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - The Seduction of Volumes: The three-dimensional MAC, at MAC/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - Aviation and Art, at the Cultural Space of the Airport of Congonhas
1993 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at MASP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Céculo 20th, at the Bienal Foundation
1996 - Brasília DF - Art and urban space: fifteen proposals, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Palácio do Itamaraty
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history in the MAC/USP collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - six timeless artists, in Multiple of Art
1997 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian sculpture: profile of an identity, at Banco Safra
1997 - Washington (United States) - The Brazilian sculpture from 1920 to 1990: profile of an identity, in the cultural center of Bid
1997 - São Paulo SP - a Brazilian sculpture from 1920 to 1990: profile of an identity, at the headquarters of Banco Safra
1998 - Brasília DF - Cien recuerdos for Garcia Lorca, at Espaço Cultural 508 Sul
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Art of Sculpture in the Conjunto Nacional, in the Conjunto Nacional
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian sculpture: from the Pinacoteca to Jardim da Luz, in the Pinacoteca do State
2001 - São Paulo SP - Art Today, at Arvani Arte
2001 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art Museum: 40 years, at MAB/FAAP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Metropolis Collection of Contemporary Art, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
2002 - São Paulo SP - Multiple Brazilians 30 years later, at Multipla de Arte
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - BrazilianArt Project, at Almacén Art Gallery
2003 - São Paulo SP - Israel and Palestine: two states for two peoples, at Sesc Pompéia
2004 - Campinas SP - Metropolis Collection of Contemporary Art, at the CPFL Cultural Space
Source: Itaú Cultural
