Geraldo de Barros: Geraldo Industrial

The next exhibition presented by Luciana Brito Galeria will be dedicated to Geraldo de Barros (Chavantes, 1923 – São Paulo, 1998). The opening of the individual exhibition entitled Geraldo Industrial will take place on Saturday, November 5th.  The exhibition,  idealized by Fabiana de Barros and Leonora de Barros, brings an overview of the artist’s production, spanning through the many diverse fields of artistic expression.

Geraldo de Barros maneuvered between painting, photography and furniture design, attaining vast artistic practice.  The procedures and techniques developed by the artist, which were implicit in such activities, though seemingly diverse, were in fact all part of a single creative process. The exhibition Geraldo Industrial seeks to engage the public with this rich process of work, illustrated by a precise selection of paintings, photographs and furniture - all signed by Geraldo de Barros, addressing the multiple nature of the artist, who was one of the pioneers in Brazil’s Concretist movement.

For the first time since the moving of its headquarters, a single artist will occupy the entire exhibitive space at Luciana Brito Galeria.  The exhibition will feature iconic works by Geraldo de Barros, such as a formica set, which are part of the series Jogos de dados, exhibited for the first time in the 1986 Venice Biennale, and belonging to Unicamp’s Museu de Artes Visuais in Campinas.  Preparatory drawings related to the works produced in the 1980s, which are a part of the Inhotim collection, will also be displayed. Aside from being reserved to one of the exhibitive spaces at the gallery, the reconstitution of a room whose furniture is authored by the artist, rebuilds his years of experience across the Unilabor (1954 -1967) and HObJEto (1964 – 1989) companies.

In the gallery’s attachment, ten unprecedented serigraphs will be exhibited (72 x 72 cm), edited post-mortem especially for the exhibition. The serigraphs summarize Geraldo de Barros’ thoughts during the development of the series Jogos de dados. 

It was by bringing art to the quotidian, be it through furniture or be it through the use of a typically industrial means of production in the making of the formicas or even in his photos, that Geraldo fulfils the modern intention of art socialization.  Beyond allowing for a walk through his trajectory, the exhibition Geraldo Industrial allows the public to get in touch with this very intention, through the selection of bold works. 

The exhibition has the support of Museu de Artes Visuais da Unicamp, Instituto Inhotim, Heloisa Espada and Thomaz Saavedra.  

About Geraldo de Barros

Geraldo de Barros was born in 1923 in Chavantes, Brazil. At the age of 26, he participated in the creation of the lab and photography course at Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), where he featured the individual exhibit Fotoformas in 1950. In 1951 he studied at HfG (Hoschule für Gestaltung [School of Design]) in Ulm, Germany.  He was a core part of vanguard artistic groups in São Paulo such as XV, and was one of the founding members of the Ruptura (1952) and Rex (1966) groups. He participated in the I, II, IX, XV and XXI São Paulo Biennales and in the Venice Biennale (Italy) in 1986. In 2014, the Instituto Moreira Salles in Rio de Janeiro, organized the Geraldo de Barros e a Fotografia [Geraldo de Barros and Photography] retrospective. The following year, the same exhibition was exhibited at Sesc Belenzinho in São Paulo. His work is part of numerous collections including the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Fonds d'Art Contemporain de l'Etat de Genève, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Instituto Inhotim, Museu Ludwig, Max Bill Foundation, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo and MoMA in Nova York.  In 1998 Geraldo de Barros passed away in São Paulo.