SIMPLE/SOPHISTICATED
An exhibition by artist Paulo Roberto Leal at the Galeria de Arte Ipanema opens on September 12, curated by Paulo Venancio Filho.
According to Paulo Venancio Filho, curator of “Simple/Sophisticated,” the exhibition is an important re-presentation of Paulo Roberto Leal’s work—a unique opportunity to revisit a portion of his legacy. His work continues the geometric abstraction of the post-neoconcrete movement in a deeply personal and, as the artist himself often said, quite playful manner. Having hosted several significant exhibitions of the artist’s work, the Galeria de Arte Ipanema—which opened in 1971 with a Paulo Roberto Leal exhibition—is bringing together more than 20 pieces starting on the opening date of September 12. As one of the precursors of Modernism and the longest-running gallery in Brazil, the institution pays tribute to Leal by gathering a selection of paintings and objects from its collection, spanning the 1970s and 80s.
His previous experience as a graphic artist provided him with an intimacy for resolving the occupation of spaces, especially two-dimensional ones, by introducing a certain chromatic freedom that captures the atmosphere of 1970s Rio de Janeiro—a more extroverted climate than the neoconcretism of the 1950s.
