Paulo Pasta (Airiranha SP 1959)
Painter, draftsman, illustrator and professor.
Graduate in Visual Arts at the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo - ECA/USP, in 1983. studies drawing and engraving in metal with Evandro Carlos Jardim (1935). She takes lithography and screen printing with Regina Silveira (1939) and painting, with Donato Ferrari (1933) and Carmela Gross (1946). He works as an art educator at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo - PESP, between 1983 and 1985. He creates abstract works in which he uses a reduced chromatic range, exploring tonal variations. In 1984, he held his first solo exhibition at Galeria D. H. L., in São Paulo. Receives the Emile Eddé Fine Arts Scholarship in 1988. He has a relevant teaching activity, teaching painting at Faculdade Santa Marcelina - FASM, between 1987 and 1999, and drawing at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, among 1995 and 2002. He is a professor at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation - FAAP, where he joined in 1998. He also teaches free courses in various cultural institutions, such as the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture - MUBE and the Instituto Tomie Ohtake - Ito. In 1990, he received the Brasília Award for Plastic Arts at the Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB/DF and, in 1997, the Price Waterhouse Award - a set of works, at the 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo - MAM/SP. In 1998, the book Paulo Pasta was published by Edusp. He holds a master's degree in Fine Arts from ECA/USP, in 2002. He illustrates, among others, the books Coração Partido - an analysis of the reflective poetry of Drummond and Rocambole, both authored by literary critic Davi Arrigucci Jr., published by Cosac & Naify, in 2002 and 2005, respectively.
Critical Comment
Paul Pasta's painting, in the 1980s, presents smooth tonal passages and unstable, indefinite forms. One of his main references, in addition to the work of Paul Cézanne (1839 - 1906) and Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954), is the painting by the American artist Jasper Johns (1930). Paulo Pasta, through slight scratches on the last layer of canvas, creates shapes that approach those of pediments, amphorae and columns. These images allow a reference to the past, refer to the field of memory. For the art historian Rodrigo Naves, there is in these works a hint of nostalgia - they seek to resume with a historical time, point to the memory of an era without fractures, in which individual gestures and social meanings were harmoniously related. There is also in the artist's works a tonal game, a kind of first color that contains others, which is insistently insinuated, but the tones and brushstrokes obey only the internal balance of the work.
As the critic Alberto Tassinari points out, at the beginning of the decade From 1990, his work was modified: most of his paintings are motive for something that resembles a floor tiled with shards. These paintings do not take the spectator's gaze to the horizon, but refer him to obstacles and a space that cannot be clearly seen. In works started in 1994, it presents more color contrasts, the space expands and the structures become more ordered. However, the thick atmosphere remains, the density of the previous paintings. In 1996, the plastic artist Nuno Ramos (1960), when commenting on the works of Paulo Pasta presented on a solo exhibition at the Camargo Vilaça gallery, in São Paulo, highlights the intense luminosity of the paintings that highlights the differences in tone and color, light and shadow, surface and depth, while paradoxically balancing the painting set.
Paul Pasta's painting, for ships, proposes to the observer an experience: it carries a kind of wandering, asks for a temporal suspension so that the look can be slowly dwelled on the tonal passages and by the forms, in a slow movement of differentiation.
Criticism
"Two contrasting aspects are found in the works of Paulo Pasta. On the one hand, there is the irregularity and the thickness of the pictorial matter, which is imposed (especially when distributed on large surfaces, as in recent tables) as a concrete presence, apparently independent of linguistic mediations - it is the element that in recent times we have become used to calling 'materic'. On the other hand, however, there is no gross matter in these works: everything is filtered, chosen, picked from tradition, and only then returned to an elementary condition. (...) However, these curvatures of matter have a history, they are organized in the memory of old schemes - not only when they suggest a drawing of arcs or the ghost of a perspective, but above all when, without any evident reference, they lend to the painting the shadow of a classic composition. (...). Something analogous, but inverted, occurs with regard to colors. There is no pure, crude color on the large monochrome surfaces of Paulo Pasta. Its colorism is tonal, it is the search for the balance point between different qualities of the same ink. The pigment goes through a tuning process, until it finds the exact height. (...)".
Lorenzo Mammi
Pasta, Paulo.
Cerves
Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo
National Museum of Fine Arts
Brasília Museum of Art
Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo
Collection Gallery Millan Antônio - São Paulo
Adalberto Calil Collection - São Paulo
Andréa Collection and José Olympio Pereira - São Paulo
Andrea and Roger Agnelli Collection  - Rio de Janeiro
Antônio Collection Gonçalves Filho - São Paulo
Arnaldo Malheiros Filho Collection - São Paulo
Arthur de Mattos Casas Collection - São Paulo
Arthur Lescher Collection - São Paulo
Christian Hemmés Collection - São Paulo
Claudio Mubarac Collection - São Paulo
Denise Aguiar Collection - São Paulo
Dulce Collection and João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz - Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo
Fernando Altério Collection - São Paulo
Gabriela and Antônio Quintella Collection - São Paulo
Henrique Collection Constantino - São Paulo
João Carlos Alves Pereira Collection - São Paulo
João Federici Collection - São Paulo
José Zaragosa Collection - São Paulo
Kim Esteve Collection
Marcantonio Vilaça Collection - Recife
Marcelo Bandeira de Mello Collection - São Paulo Paulo
Marcelo Secaf Collection - São Paulo
Maria Luísa Collection and Pedro Alcântara - São Paulo
Maria Teresa Sosio Collection - São Paulo
Miguel Chaia Collection - São Paulo
Milton Goldfarb Collection - São Paulo
Nilo Collection Cecco - São Paulo
Nora Clemente Collection - São Paulo
Orandi Momesso Collection - São Paulo
Patrícia Cisneros Collection - Caracas
Rafael DeCuto Collection - São Paulo
Roberto Brandão Collection - São Paulo
Rodrigo Andrade Collection - São Paulo
Andrade Lima Collection Socorro - São Paulo
Song Eek Collection - São Paulo
Sônia Fernandes Collection - São Paulo
Tom Freitas Valle Collection - São Paulo
Individual exhibitions
1985 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Individual, at Galeria Campus/USP in Ribeirão Preto
1985 - São Carlos SP - Individual, at the Campus/USP Gallery in São Carlos
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Cândido Cultural Center Mendes
1989 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at MAC/USP
1993 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at Itaú Cultural
1994 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Anna Maria Niemeyer Gallery
1996 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Camargo Vilaça Gallery
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Anna Maria Niemayer Gallery
1998 - Curitiba PR - Individual, at Casa da Imagem
1998 - Recife PE - Individual, at the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation
1999 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Camargo Vilaça Gallery
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paulo Pasta: Painting, at Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer
2002 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2002 - São Paulo SP - Paulo Pasta: Drawings, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2003 - São Paulo SP - Grand Drawings, at Galeria 10.20 x 3.60
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paulo Pasta: Paintings, at Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer
2004 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at CCSP
Collective exhibitions
1984 - São Paulo SP - of the landscape and the figure, in the DHL gallery
1985 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Pirelli Painting Youth Award, at Masp
1985 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at the Biennial Foundation
1986 - Belo Horizonte MG - 9th National Salon of Plastic Arts: Southeast, at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation. Palácio das Artes
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th National Salon of Plastic Arts - Acquisition Award
1986 - São Paulo SP - 4th Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea, at the Biennial Foundation
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5th Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea, at the Pinacoteca do Estado - Secretary of State for Culture
1987 - São Paulo SP - Second Generation Images, at MAC/USP
1988 - Berlin (Germany) - Workshop Berlin/São Paulo, at Kunsthalle Berlin
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Macunaíma Project, at Funarte. Arts Center
1988 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon
1988 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at the sub-district gallery
1988 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Art
1988 - São Paulo SP - Workshop Berlin/São Paulo, at MASP
1989 - Brasília DF - New values of Latin American/Brazil art, at the Museu de Arte de Brasília
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 11th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at Funarte
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Arte Paulista, Recent Perspectives, CCSP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Ten artists, at the studio on Rua Fortunato
1990 - Brasília DF - Brasília Award for Plastic Arts, at the Museu de Arte de Brasília
1991 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Brazil: La Nueva Generación, at Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes
1991 - Cuenca (Ecuador) - 3rd Bienal de Cuenca
1991 - São Paulo SP - BR/80: Painting Brasil Decade 80s, at Itaugaleria
1992 - São Paulo SP - Annual Program for Visual Arts Exhibition, at the CCSP
1994 - São Paulo SP - 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, At Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - Annual Program for Visual Arts Exhibitions, at CCSP
1995 - Londrina PR - Brazilian Art: Confrontations and Contrasts, at the International Pavilion Octávio Cesário Pereira Junior
1995 - São Paulo SP - 80s: The Diversity Stage, at the SESI Art Gallery
1995 - São Paulo SP - Morandi in Brazil, at CCSP
1996 - Cascavel PR - 3rd Ventosul: Visual Arts Exhibition of the Southern Cone, at the Museum of Art
1996 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian Art: Recent Donations/96, at MAM/SP
1997 - Curitiba PR - The Contemporary Art of Engraving, at the Metropolitan of Art of Curitiba
1997 - Ouro Preto MG - Experiences and Perspectives: 12 Contemporary Views, at the Casa dos Contos Museum. Center for the Study of the Gold Cycle
1997 - São Paulo SP - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP - Grand Prix Price Waterhouse
1997 - São Paulo SP - Art City: The City and Its Stories
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - The contemporary urban landscape, at Itaú Cultural
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - The support of the word, at Itaú Cultural
1998 - Campinas SP - The contemporary urban landscape, at Itaú Cultural
1998 - Niterói RJ - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - Penápolis SP - The contemporary urban landscape, at the Itaú Cultural Gallery
1998 - Recife PE - 25th Panorama de Arte Brazilian, at Mamam
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian art in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo: recent donations 1996 - 1998, at CCBB
1998 - Salvador BA - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/BA
1998 - São Paulo SP - The contemporary urban landscape, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - Elective Affinities I: The Collector's Look, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Collector, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The modern and the contemporary in Brazilian art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at MASP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The support of the word, at MAM/SP
1999 - São Paulo SP - Brazil in the century of art, collection MAC/USP, at the SESI Art Gallery
1999 - São Paulo SP - almost figure, at MAM/SP
2000 - Curitiba PR - 12th Exhibition of the Engraving of Curitiba. Body marks, folds of the soul
2000 - Niterói RJ - Paintings in the João Satamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Letter from Pero Vaz de Caminha, at the National Historical Museum
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition, at the Bienal Foundation
2000 - São Paulo SP - New work, at MAC/USP
2001 - Brasília DF - Contemporary Art Exhibition, at the Cultural Complex of Caixa
2001 - Porto Alegre RS - 3rd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Blind Mirror: Selections of a Contemporary Collection, at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The spirit of our time, at MAM/RJ
2001 - São Paulo SP - The color in Brazilian art, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Espelho Blind: Selections from a contemporary collection, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - The spirit of our time, at MAM/SP
2002 - Niterói RJ - Dialogue, antagonism and replication in the collection Sattamini, at MAC/Niterói
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporânea 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - 28 (+) Painting, at Espaço Virgílio
2002 - São Paulo SP - Strategies to dazzle, at the SESI Art Gallery
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of the Now: 50 years of Brazilian Art Collection Sattamini, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2002 - São Paulo SP - The plan as a structure of form, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Open Opera: Celebration, at Casa das Rosas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Portão 2, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2003 - Madrid (Spain) - Arco/2003, at Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Arco 2003, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
2003 - São Paulo SP - MAC USP 40 years: Contemporary Interfaces, at MAC/USP
2003 - São Paulo SP - my friends, At MAM/SP
2004 - Niterói RJ - Painting and Drawing - 90/00, at MAC/Niterói
2004 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Art in the Municipal Collection, at the CCSP
Source: Itaú Cultural
