PAULO NIMER PJOTA – MEDLEY
2018-04-09Continuing his research into the iconographic structures that comprise the collective imagination of art history and inhabit the universe of mass culture, the artist uses metal plates and raw canvas as a support for the constellations of images that surround him, an exercise of appropriation and co-relations.
At a first glance, the set of Western icons that move through popular and erudite culture are part of the artist’s purpose to bring together the maximum amount of references that represent institutional authority. The icons are drawn in a hyper realistic way and bring to mind stickers that have been glued on metal plates that are often found in the streets. The mobility of these stickers reveals the fluid values and interpretations these icons can have whether they are sacred or ordinary. Placing them in a new context results in a rhythmic temporal displacement that include images of Sumerian gods and cartoon characters from the 90s.
In the work Cada cabeça uma sentença, three god’s heads from different periods of antiquity are painted with a specific blue pigment from Chefchaouen, a city in the north of Morocco. Inhabitants of the city, that is known for being covered in the blue paint, believe that the color brings them closer to God, the same God who is responsible for the ‘sentence’ that lends its title to the work.
Opposite – Nem Tudo Que Reluz é Ouro, 2018
Exhibition runs through to May 17th, 2018
Mendes Wood DM
Rua da Consolação 3368, Jardins
SP, 01416 000 São Paulo
Brazil
