Paulo Roberto Leal

Paulo Roberto Leal (Rio de Janeiro RJ 1946 - idem 1991)

Paulo Roberto Leal was a visual artist, graphic artist and curator. An employee of the Banco Central from 1967, he made his first visual design works in 1969, producing catalogs for art exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro. That same year, he came into contact with the Neo-Concrete artist Osmar Dillon. In the 1970s, he began experimenting with materials related to his work at the Banco Central, such as paper rolls. He taught a course on creativity with paper at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ) and received an award at the 11th São Paulo International Biennial in 1971. The following year, he was part of the Brazilian representation at the 36th Venice Biennale, alongside Franz Weissmann and Humberto Espíndola. On the occasion of the exhibition O Gesto Criador [The Creative Gesture], Olívio Tavares de Araújo made a film about his work in 1977. He served as curator of the Banco Central's Museu de Valores until 1980.

In 1984, together with Marcus de Lontra Costa and Sandra Magger, he curated the exhibition Como Vai Você, Geração 80? [How Are You, Generation 80?] at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV/Parque Lage) in Rio de Janeiro. In 1995, the Centro de Referência Iconográfica e Textual PRL was planned at MAM/RJ, with the documents left by the artist in the care of Armando Mattos. In 2000, the exhibition Projeto Concreto/PRL was held at the Centro Cultural Light in Rio de Janeiro, and, in 2007, 102 of his works were brought together in the exhibition Da Matéria Nasce a Forma [From Matter Form Is Born] at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC-Niterói).

Critical Commentary

Since the early 1970s, Paulo Roberto Leal has produced works exploring the visual possibilities of paper. He uses kraft wrapping paper, or finer papers, to create structures of repetition or varied modules. In these works, the artist emphasizes the perishable and conceptual character of his proposal, which can be undone or altered at any moment. In the Armagens series, he presents articulated papers, sinuously rolled inside transparent acrylic boxes. In his works, he engages in dialogue with the work of Osmar Dillon, an artist who works with visual poems created in acrylic boxes, setting up plays among words, shapes and colors. In series such as Desarmagens and Des-mov-em, one perceives his questioning of the limits of painting.

In 1974, he began producing the entretelas [interlinings], pieces of canvas joined by machine stitching. They were later painted and glued onto various supports, as in the Armaduras [Armors] series. As the critic Roberto Pontual notes, Leal seeks the basis of his works in the module and the multiple, mixing elements related to Arte Povera with the refinement of kinetic art.

According to the critic, from 1978 on the artist shows a growing desire to approach painting, without, however, changing his working process. In the series Armaduras [Armors] and Quasar, 1980, the importance of color stands out, creating atmospheres and also used symbolically. In his later production, Paulo Roberto Leal also seeks integration with the environment and architecture of the exhibition space, as in the work Regata [Regatta], 1985.

Critiques

"(...) A space of fusions rather than juxtapositions; organic, far beyond mechanical. That was the expressive - that is to say, multisensory - space the Neo-Concretists proposed. It remains, with the diversities that time brings, the field of work of many of our constructive artists today. Among them, Paulo Roberto Leal is the one whose work has shown from the start, 10 years ago, the most immediate, sustained and irreversible renewal of the original spirit and practice of Neo-Concretism. Not mimetically or on a whim. The link results from a blend of individual predisposition and absorption of the collective substratum, of already being inside and being attentive to what lies outside. Thus, like the Lygia Clark of the modulated surfaces and the bichos [critters] of the 1950s, Leal, in the 1970s and still now, has not ceased to articulate part with part. Fundamentally a builder through geometry, he is not interested in the monolithic, indivisible and final unity closed within each work. What interests him is multiplicity, grouping, articulation, the point of meeting but also of division. Between chaos and order, what disperses and what compacts, it is the balance of opposing vital forces that matters to him. And balance, considering the dynamic vocation of the term, exists more in the line where the parts converge than in each of them in isolation. There it becomes axis, accord, harmony".
Roberto Pontual
MODERNIDADE: arte brasileira do século XX. Prefácio de Celso Furtado. Apresentação de Pierre Dossa. Organizado pelo Ministério da Cultura, Brasília e Câmara do Comércio. Texto de Aracy Amaral. São Paulo: MAM; Paris: Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1988.

Solo Exhibitions

1970 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at Biblioteca Pública do Estado do Paraná
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Multiples, at Galeria de Arte Ipanema
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Ipanema
1973 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Oscar Seraphico
1973 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Galeria Mainline
1974 - Campinas SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Girassol
1974 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Arte Global
1975 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Galeria de Arte do IAB/RS
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Graffiti
1976 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Oscar Seraphico
1983 - Niterói RJ - Habitantes [Inhabitants], at Galeria de Arte UFF
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Concerto Concreto [Concrete Concert], at Galeria 110 Arte Contemporânea

Group Exhibitions

1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - 2nd National Contemporary Art Salon
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th National Salon of French Culture
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 19th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ - acquisition prize
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd Summer Salon, at MAM/RJ
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Materiais Transfigurados [Transfigured Materials], at Sala Goeldi
1970 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo Pre-Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - award winner
1971 - Curitiba PR - 28th Paraná Salon, at Biblioteca Pública do Paraná
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Multiples Exhibition, at Petite Galerie
1971 - São Paulo SP - 11th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - São Paulo Biennial Prize
1971 - São Paulo SP - 5th Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later, at Galeria da Collectio
1972 - São Paulo SP - Independence Sesquicentennial Art Show and Brasil Plástica - 72, at Fundação Bienal
1972 - São Paulo SP - Múltiplos Brasileiros [Brazilian Multiples], at Galeria Múltipla de Arte
1972 - Venice (Italy) - 36th Venice Biennale
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22nd National Salon of Modern Art
1973 - Santo André SP - 6th Santo André Contemporary Art Salon, at Paço Municipal
1974 - Belo Horizonte MG - 5th University Art Salon - acquisition prize
1974 - São Paulo SP - National Biennial 74, at Fundação Bienal
1975 - São Paulo SP - Novos e Novíssimos Gravadores Brasileiros [New and Newest Brazilian Printmakers], at MAC/USP
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Arte Agora [Art Now], at MAM/RJ
1976 - São Paulo SP - 8th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1977 - Belo Horizonte MG - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1977 - Brasília DF - 5th Global Winter Salon
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th Global Winter Salon, at MNBA
1977 - São Paulo SP - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Masp
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3rd Arte Agora: América Latina, geometria sensível [Art Now: Latin America, Sensitive Geometry], at MAM/RJ
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1980 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Panorama da Nova Pintura Latino-Americana [Panorama of New Latin American Painting]
1980 - Curitiba PR - 37th Paraná Salon, at Teatro Guaíra
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Outra Pintura [Another Painting], at Livraria Noa Noa
1980 - Venice (Italy) - 40th Venice Biennale
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 13th Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon, at Museu de Arte da Pampulha
1981 - Porto Alegre RS - Brazilian Artists of the 1960s and 70s in the Rubem Knijnik Collection, at Espaço NO Galeria Chaves
1982 - Belo Horizonte MG - 14th Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon, at Museu de Arte da Pampulha
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Brazil 60 Years of Modern Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
1982 - London (England) - Brazil 60 Years of Modern Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at Barbican Art Gallery
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ - acquisition prize
1982 - São Paulo SP - In Comunicabile/Inter-comunicável [Incommunicable/Inter-communicable], at MAC/USP
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - À Flor da Pele: pintura e prazer [Skin Deep: Painting and Pleasure], at Galeria do Centro Empresarial Rio
1983 - São Paulo SP - Reinterpretation Project, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1984 - Niterói RJ - Adriano, Leal, Ronaldo, Sued, at Galeria de Arte UFF
1984 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at MIS/SP - acquisition prize
1984 - São Paulo SP - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection: Portrait and Self-Portrait of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Ribeirão Preto SP - To Draw, at Itaugaleria
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Art Construction: 21 Contemporary Artists, at Galeria do Centro Empresarial Rio
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Old Habit: Brazilian Drawing, at EAV/Parque Lage
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - Drawings, at Centro Cultural Bonfiglioli
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcriar, at CCSP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcriar, at MAC/USP
1986 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Bienal Latino-Americana de Arte Sobre Papel [Latin American Biennial of Art on Paper]
1986 - Niterói RJ - Na Ponta do Lápis [At the Tip of the Pencil], at Galeria de Arte da UFF
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Paths of Brazilian Drawing, at Margs
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Occupied Territory, at EAV/Parque Lage
1986 - São Paulo SP - 17th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1986 - Vitória ES - O Atelier 78 [The Atelier 78], at Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa
1987 - Ivry-sur-Seine (France) - Ouverture Brésilienne, at Centre d'Art Contemporain. Galerie Fernand Léger
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the Collector: Tribute to Gilberto Chateaubriand, at MAM/RJ
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 10th National Visual Arts Salon, at Funarte - acquisition prize
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Abolition, at Galeria de Arte Ipanema
1988 - São Paulo SP - Modernity: 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Today, at MAM/RJ

Posthumous Exhibitions

1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st On the Way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at Paço Imperial
1992 - São Paulo SP - Anos 60/70: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand/Museu de Arte Moderna-RJ [The 1960s/70s: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection/Museu de Arte Moderna-RJ], at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1993 - Niterói RJ - 2nd On the Way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at MAC-Niterói
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Rarefação dos Sentidos: Coleção João Sattamini - anos 70 [The Rarefaction of the Senses: João Sattamini Collection - 1970s], at EAV/Parque Lage
1993 - São Paulo SP - Modern Drawing in Brazil: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1998 - São Paulo SP - Multiples, at Valu Oria Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at Masp
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Situations: Brazilian Art of the 1970s, at Fundação Casa França-Brasil
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Concreto Paulo Roberto Leal [Paulo Roberto Leal Concrete Project], at Centro Cultural Light
2001 - Porto Alegre RS - Liba and Rubem Knijnik Collection: Brazilian Contemporary Art, at Margs
2002 - Niterói RJ - Dialogue, Antagonism and Replication in the Sattamini Collection, at MAC-Niterói
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Genealogia do Espaço [Genealogy of Space], at Galeria do Parque das Ruínas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of Now: Recent Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection of the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2003 - Belo Horizonte MG - Geométricos [Geometrics], at Léo-Bahia Arte Contemporânea
2003 - Campos dos Goytacazes RJ - Planar-Spatial Poem, at Sesc
2003 - Nova Friburgo RJ - Planar-Spatial Poem, at Galeria Sesc Nova Friburgo
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30 Artists, at Mercedes Viegas Escritório de Arte
2005 - Belo Horizonte MG - 40/80: An Exhibition of Brazilian Art, at Léo Bahia Arte Contemporânea
2005 - Campos dos Goytacazes RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Sesc
2005 - Petrópolis RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Galeria Sesc Petrópolis
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Imagem Sitiada [Besieged Image], at Galeria Sesc Copacabana
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - N_múltiplos [N_multiples], at Arte 21 Galeria
2005 - São Paulo SP - Homo Ludens: do faz-de-conta à vertigem [Homo Ludens: From Make-Believe to Vertigo], at Itaú Cultural
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artecontemporânea, at Mercedes Viegas Arte Contemporânea
2007 - Niterói RJ - Da Matéria Nasce a Forma [From Matter Form Is Born], at MAC-Niterói

Source: Itaú Cultural