SIMPLE/SOPHISTICATED
Exhibition by artist Paulo Roberto Leal at 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 a significant re-presentation of Paulo Roberto Leal’s work and a unique opportunity to revisit a legacy that carries forward post-neoconcrete geometric abstraction in a deeply personal and, as the artist himself often said, quite playful manner. Having hosted several important exhibitions of the artist’s work, Galeria de Arte Ipanema—which opened in 1971 with a Paulo Roberto Leal exhibition—is bringing together more than 20 works 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 pieces from its collection, including paintings and objects, in a selection 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, introducing a chromatic freedom that captures the atmosphere of 1970s Rio de Janeiro—more extroverted and distinct from the neoconcretism of the 1950s.
