-
Flores e Vasos
Gaspar Gasparian
Robert Mapplethorpe
Rochelle Costi
Curated by Nessia L. Pope22.08 - 17.10.26 -
Flores e Vasos
A flower embodies an unavoidable contradiction: at the very height of its beauty, it already points toward its own decline; once decay sets in, it becomes a reminder of life’s brevity. This tension lies at the heart of the vanitas tradition, a genre of painting in which flowers and other ephemeral objects evoke the transience of existence. The flower celebrates the present while simultaneously affirming the inevitability of death. Across painting, sculpture, photography, and other media, it remains an inexhaustible and universal subject.
At a time of political, social, and ecological instability and disorder across the planet, I wanted to offer, here within Roberto Burle Marx’s garden, a moment of pause – an invitation to look more slowly and reflectively, and a gesture of resistance.
One Theme, Three Approaches.
Gaspar Gasparian, a São Paulo businessman, fell in love with photography in the 1940s, when he began exploring the subtle gradations of black and white and the effects of natural light. His flowers seem marked by time, slightly imperfect, as though they were about to wilt. His interest in the geometric organization of space led him to include unexpected elements in his compositions – ceramic plates, curtains, and tables – and to develop a distinctive visual language, formalist in character and free of sentimentality. The serenity of Gasparian’s gaze draws the viewer into contemplation and reverie. His fascination with photography becomes ours as well.
Robert Mapplethorpe’s flowers, by contrast, are removed from their original context and placed in dialogue with the work he produced in New York during the 1970s and 1980s. Sensual and often erotic, photographed in the studio against neutral or dark backgrounds, they take on sculptural forms that recall those of his celebrated series of idealized nude bodies, renowned for their perfection. His images are unmistakable and immersive, transforming the flower into a psychological experience.
Rochelle Costi created the Florada series during walks through Pacaembu, the São Paulo neighborhood where she lived at the time. She gathered flowers from streets and private gardens, then carried the improvised bouquets home and arranged them in vases, on tables, and on shelves within the domestic setting. Her floral arrangements are spontaneous yet carefully composed in terms of color and form, as though she were exerting a delicate gesture of control over nature itself. The flowers are joyful and pleasurable, but they also provoke a certain unease. Once placed within the home, they cease to be isolated objects and acquire new meanings, connected both to photography’s tradition of immortalizing an image as well as to the practice of collecting, which was intrinsic to the artist’s creative process.
Each of these three sensibilities creates a distinct emotional and conceptual experience, thus affirming the flower’s expressive potential.
Nessia L. Pope
-
-
Rochelle Costi
1961, Caxias do Sul, Brazil - 2022, São Paulo, Brazil. -
-
“Florada is a body of photographs linked to nature’s cycles.”
- Rochelle CostiAs with many of my mother’s other works, I had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how the Florada collection came into being. Rochelle liked to wake up early and go for walks, sometimes alone and sometimes with Branquinha, our dog, and she would always come back with something new – something she had noticed or photographed, or something she had picked up along the way. The treasures she brought home from the street always included plants, which she would add to the rich variety of flora in our yard, garden, and many pots scattered throughout the house.
The lighting in our home was extraordinary, and sunny mornings always felt mystical, even mysterious. I believe this atmosphere was a major source of inspiration that led my mother to start photographing the pots. At the time, I was finishing high school, so she would wake up when I did. I imagine her taking in the mystical quality of those sunlit mornings and, as she went out for her walk, envisioning wonderful arrangements with her boundlessly creative mind. When she returned home, she would transform those visions into compositions, giving form to the ideas conceived along the way. I imagine this was her process because when I came home from school, I would find her there, camera mounted on a tripod, photographing her creations in natural light.
Whenever I talk about Rochelle, I have to mention the joy of having learned, even in some small way, to see the world as she did, and of noticing something at the very moment she would say, “Did you see that?” My mother had an extraordinary way of seeing the world, and I am so happy that her work lets us share in that vision and that it has also become part of my own way of seeing the world.Zero Costi Martín
-
-
-
-
-
R O C H E L L E C O S T I“Florada Novembro 2016 • Lírio”, 2016
impressão jato de tinta sobre papel de algodão
inkjet print on cotton paper
120 x 80 cm47.24 x 31.5 in -
-
Gaspar Gasparian
1899, São Paulo, Brazil - 1966, São Paulo, Brazil. -
-
-
My father lived a life rich in work, accomplishment, and affection. Though he was a successful industrialist, he remained attuned to the poetry of everyday life and the wonders of nature.
He liked to photograph in the morning. Even as the sun was rising, he would already have his camera in hand, attentive to light and shadow. The smallest detail became a meaningful subject. In every sense, he was a man of detail.
Over the course of eighteen years, my father’s work moved from still life toward abstraction. Every Monday evening, he would withdraw to his studio at home, where he built compositions from the many objects he had collected – glass objects, vases, backdrops, and more. He also kept a library devoted to photography and would spend hours there, completely absorbed in his work.
My memories of the brief time we had together are of a man enchanted by life – playful and always full of energy. His photographs reflect that joyful, vibrant personality. As Pietro Maria Bardi observed: “Besides being patient, he was fair; he knew how to recognize the right moment.”
Gaspar Gasparian Filho
-
-
G A S P A R G A S P A R I A N“Crisandália”, 1940
fotografia em gelatina e prata
silver gelatin print
37,9 x 29,01 cm14.92 x 11.45 ined vintage -
-
Robert Mapplethorpe
1946, Floral Park, USA - 1989, Boston, USA. -
-
"A plant's purple flowers stare at me like a curious hydra. In his commitment to beauty, at times I felt as though I was seeing these flowers in an almost sexual way, licentiously exposed to me, posed so that their beauty was most captivating, like a nude."
Patti Smith -
-
R O B E R T M A P P L E T H O R P E“Flower”, 1982
fotografia em emulsão de prata
gelatin silver print
51 x 41 cm20 x 16 ined 10/10
