Nelson Leirner: Era Uma Vez...

On May 18, Galeria Brito Cimino will be presenting Nelson Leirner’s latest work of installation, which will be on display through July 17.  During these two months visitors will enjoy the privilege of viewing the art of this artist who showed in two important solo exhibitions in Europe, in 2003, and now comes to São Paulo once again.

Today we live in a true imagery “Babel” at which Nelson Leirner is certainly second to none as a translator. An image reader, a collector of everyday things, and a wizard of sensibility, the artist delivers syncretism both in his actual work and in the subject matters he addresses (his country’s reality, for example).

Nelson Leirner’s present installation features parody, irony, and displacement in everyday items arranged in such a way as to invite (and challenge) the viewer to touch them, grab them and take them home – instead of merely observe, discover and covet them. Leirner’s universe is made of things taken from our everyday life and assembled as a sensible collection of commonplace images.

For the exhibition, the objects that Leirner has selected and organized on bookshelves at his studio are transported to the gallery venue and assembled into an installation that accurately duplicates the original studio. On the facing wall, an eight-module life-size (2,73 x 4,28 m) composition of photos of the studio bookshelves will convey an optical illusion, a mirage or a reflection to viewers who will have the sensation of being inside a surprise box – of being transported in time and space.

Nelson Leirner has the rare merit of rendering at once a reconstruction of himself and a parodical synthesis of his oeuvre. This installation is a private showcase that provokes and nourishes the collective imaginary, and inspires viewers to hum a song the music or lyrics of which could have been composed by spectator or artist alike. In so doing, Nelson Leirner delivers a work of eternal seduction.

F/NAZCA SAATCHI & SAATCHI is sponsoring the exhibition.

Nelson Leirner will present his work simultaneously in a solo exhibition curated by Agnaldo Farias, to open on May 13 at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, in São Paulo.