Beatriz Milhazes: Rio Azul
Press Release
Beatriz Milhazes
Rio Azul
White Cube Bermondsey, South Gallery and 9x9x9
18 April – 1 July 2018
Preview: Tuesday 17 April 2018, 6–8pm
White Cube presents its first exhibition of Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960, Brazil) at White Cube Bermondsey. Her first solo show in London for almost a decade, this large-scale exhibition features new painting, installation, sculpture, collage and live performance, as well as Milhazes’ first ever tapestry, measuring 16 meters wide and nearly 3 meters tall.
Created especially for White Cube’s South Gallery, the tapestry Rio azul (2016-2018), is inspired by the work of Brazilian modernist artist and architect Roberto Burle Marx. The work depicts wave-like, linear forms, geometric blocks, circles, leaves and flowers, and was made over a period of two years with master weavers at Pinton Mill in France.
A new series of paintings in the exhibition use form and colour to offer the viewer a vertiginous visual experience. Referencing Henri Matisse and Sonia Delaunay, these works feature a bright, riotous colour palette, geometric shapes and a combination of solid and linear motifs. O grande dia (2016-2017) and Sonho Tropical (2017), for example, feature circular forms, abstract and floral patterning and solid areas of single colours, set against parallel or undulating lines. They echo both the tropical profusion of Brazil's native flora and the delicate transparency and grid-like features of its modernist architecture.
A similar language is displayed in hanging sculptures which stretch from floor to ceiling in White Cube’s South Gallery. In Mariola and Marola (both 2010-2015) fine, vertical threads are strung with tactile, colourful objects in copper, aluminium, plastic and paper. Combining both found and made materials, they evolve from drawings which the artist cuts out of a metal disc, forming a 'ceiling' for each work. Each element of the sculpture precisely follows the initial plate drawing, creating a play between two and three dimensions.
The Marcia Milhazes Dance Company presents GUARDE – ME in live performances during the opening week of the exhibition. The piece takes place amongst the installation Gamboa II (2015-2016), comprising five sculptures which incorporate light pastel-coloured plastic objects – the kind commonly used to decorate floats during Carnival processions. Following the live performances, GUARDE – ME will be screened in White Cube’s auditorium for the duration of the exhibition.
Beatriz Milhazes’ exhibition opens at White Cube Bermondsey on 18 April and continues until 1 July 2018. Live performances take place on Wednesday 18 April and Thursday 19 April (7pm) and Saturday 21 April and Sunday 22 April (2pm).