Navigating different references, Patricia Leite gives an outlet to her memories and latent affections through an extremely peculiar pictorial exercise. Bucolic scenes from trips or images extracted from videos that caught her attention trigger a process towards paintings that come into existence in a rare combination of seriousness and leniency. In her cohesive body of work, we find recurring echoes and resonances from themes and styles that are well represented in the history of art, such as landscape painting and pop art elements. However, these resources are always used as a support to express intimate manifestations that could be in a diary or in a map with organically collected and carefully edited images.
Vibrating between abstraction and figuration, her artworks deal with the movement from a solid state to an inconstant moment. If, on one hand, the use of large colour blocks on the absorbingly-rigid wood put us in front of imposing planes, on the other, everything that is there cannot be fully let alone definitively defined. What we have is an opening of light that outlines everything whilst leaving room for us to witness its constant transformations. We see the emergence of points of contact – that are always inexact – between the ethereal and matter.
From striking colours – avocado green, solid tones of blue, etc. – to graphic frugality, the artist chooses her building blocks to portray the world in different levels of intensity. Behind her choices lays her desire to get closer to singular atmospheres and to touch sensations that surface from visual experiences, like basking in the sun in Minas Gerais, watching a carnival parade or contemplating nightfall on the beach.
Holding a BA in Drawing and Printmaking by the Escola de Belas Artes da UFMG, her works can be found in the collections of Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo; Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro; and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Further on, her works have been included in institutional group exhibitions as Aprendendo Com Dorival Caymmi – Civilização Praieira, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2016); The Circus as a Parallel Universe, Kunsthalle Wien, Viena (2013); Procedente, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (2008).
Education
1983
– BA in Drawing and Printmaking by Escola de Belas Artes da UFMG
1981 – 1982
– Experimental Nucleus of Art directed by Amílcar de Castro
– Painting Teacher at Curso Livre da Escola Guignard
Solo Exhibitions
2017
– “Olha pro céu, meu amor”, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
2015
– “Saudades do Brasil”, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
– “Fresta”, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2009
– “Contra o Céu”, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil
2008
– “Espuma do mar eternamente e a Pedra”, Manoel Macedo Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005/06
– “Outra Praia”, Curadoria de Rodrigo Moura, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Pinturas”, Gesto Gráfico Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005
– “Pinturas”, Gesto Gráfico Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1992
– Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1991
– Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1990
– Sala Corpo de Exposições, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1988
– Galeria Minas Contemporânea, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1987
– Galeria de Arte Vitrine, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– Itaú Galeria, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1986
– Galeria de Arte do Instituto dos Arquitetos do Brasil, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1984
– Galeria Macunaíma, Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Group Exhibitions
2017
– “Neither.”, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
2016
– “Toda janela é um projétil, é um projeto, é uma paisagem”, Sim Galeria, Curitiba, Brazil
– “Aprendendo Com Dorival Caymmi – Civilização Praieira”, Instituto Tomie Ohtake São Paulo, Brazil
2015
– “Femmes de Têtes, Femmes Esthètes”, La vitrine am, Paris, France
2013
– “Noite Azul Elétrico”, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
– “The Circus as a Parallel Universe”, Kunsthalle Wien, Viena, Austria
2011
– “Estou aqui”. Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2010
– “Reveillon”, Galeria Silvia Cintra+Box4, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2008
– “Paralela, De perto e de longe”, Curated by Rodrigo Moura, Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Procedente MAP: novas aquisições”, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Turistas, Volver”, Curated by Luisa Duarte, Galeria Carminha Macedo, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2001
– “Setembro”, Gesto Gráfico, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1999
– “Centro de Convivência da UFV”, Viçosa, Brazil
1998
– “A Ponte”, Salas Genesco Murta, Arlinda Correa Lima, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1997
– “Mês da Mulher”, Casa de Cultura de Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
– “Prospecções/Arte nos Anos 80 e 90”, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1996
– “Efeito Festival”, Pace Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1994
– “Cor e Luz”, Espaço Cultural Cemig, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Retrospectiva 5 Anos do Escritório de Arte Fernando Pedro”, Museu Mineiro, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1992
– “Bonfim”, Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1991
– “Utopias Contemporâneas”, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Dez Anos de Acervo”, Coleção Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Bonfim”, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1990
– “De um Time de Artistas Arte Copa 90”, Centro Cultural UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Sexta Básica”, Galeria Enquadros, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1989
– “Azulejos. Gravuras, Cerâmicas”, Oficina Cerâmica Terra, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1988
– “Imagem Pública”, Projeto vencedor da concorrência FIAT, Out-doors, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Descendo a Serra, Artistas Mineiros no Rio”, Galeria Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Maltraçadas Linhas”, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1987
– “Caminhos do Desenho Brasileiro”, Museu de Arte do RGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
1986
– “Preciosidades para Colecionadores”, Centro Cultural UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1985
– “Mostra Inauguração”, Galeria Paulo Campos Guimarães, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “A Criança de Sempre”, Espaço Cultural Cemig, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– “Velha Mania, Desenhos”, Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1984
– “Dez Artistas e um Computador”, Fundação João Pinheiro, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1982
– “Núcleo Experimental de Arte”, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1981
– “Quatro Artistas”, Sala Corpo, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Grants and Awards
2012
– II Concurso Itamaraty de Arte Contemporânea, Brazil
2010
– Nominated for PIPA Prize 2010
1990
– XXII National Salon, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1989
– XXI National Salon, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– VII Paulista Salon of Contemporary Art, Prêmio de Aquisição, Brazil
1988
– VI Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea, Pavilhão da Bienal, Brazil
– XX Art Salon, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1987
– V Paulista Salon of Contemporary Art, Prêmio de Aquisição, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
– XIV National Salon, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1986
– National Salon of Artes Plásticas, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– VII Display of Brazilian Drawings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Curitiba, Brazil
1985
– XII National Salon, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– XII National Salon of the Fundação Clóvis Salgado, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1982
– National Salon of Artes Plásticas, Funarte, Museum of Modern Art Rio de Janeiro (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Art Fairs
2008
– ARCO 08, Madrid, Spain
– SP Arte, São Paulo, Brazil
2007
– SP Arte, São Paulo, Brazil
Collections
– Inhotim, Instituto de Arte Contemporanea, Minas Gerais, Brazil
– Itamaraty, Ministerio das Relacoes Exteriores, Distrito Federal, Brazil
– Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
– Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
– Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
– Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
