Tiradentes, Brazil, 1980.
Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.
Thiago Rocha Pitta began exhibiting his works in 2001, with outdoor interventions. Since the beginning his work seeks an intimate relationship with nature, where it is possible to say nature is a co-author. This is evident in works such as “Homage to William Turner”, a video from a small boat on fire, or in the mirror/platform built on a cliff , where the public is invited to walk on the reflection of the sky. Through watercolours, photographs, sculptures and video, Rocha Pitta focuses on small yet emotive elements of the natural world that are simultaneously ominous and melancholic, always searching in the language the poetic state of the matter and its mutation. Driven by a preoccupation with the passage of time, particularly in the natural settings, Rocha Pitta often manipulates the pace of his work, confronting his viewer with a quiet and curious introspection, and an open-ended sense of longing.
Solo Exhibitions
2015
-“Temporal Maps of a Non-Sedimented Land”, BOESKY EAST, New York, USA, February 22 – March 22, 2015.
2014
-Galeria Millan, São Paulo, Brazil, August 31 – September 27, 2014.
2013
-“L’Eremo and Il Campo Accampa”, Gluck50 Gallery, Milan, Italy, April 5 – July 20, 2013.
-“Projeto para uma pinttura com Temporal #6”, a public art project, Duque de Caxias, Brazil.
2012
– “O campo acampa”, Centro Universitário Maria Antonia, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Nostalgia of Pangea”, Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark, February 4 – March 16, 2012.
2011
-“Saudades da Pangeia”, Galeria Millan, São Paulo, Brazil, July 20 – August 21, 2011.
-“Projeto para uma pinttura com Temporal #5”, a public art project, São Paulo, Brazil, September.
-“Contemporary Room: Thiago Rocha Pitta”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2010
-“Notas de um Desabamento”, Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 24 – August 17, 2010.
2009
-“A Rocky Mist”, Meyer Riegger Gallery, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 18 – October, 31, 2009.
2008
-“Calmaria”, Galeria Millan,São Paulo, Brazil, November 27 – December 20, 2008.
-“Notes on an Inland Shipwreck”, Andersen Contemporary, Berlin, Germany, September 6 – October 18, 2008.
-“The Bar vol. 2 – Donna Ong and Thiago Rocha Pitta”, SCAI X SCAI, Arts Initiative Tokyo [AIT], Tokyo, Japan, June 14 – June 28, 2008.
2007
-“Uma Trilogia”, Pavilhão Ascensão, São Paulo, Brazil August 25 – October 27, 2007.
-“Heritage”, Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 7 – October 13, 2007.
2006
-“Requiem”, A Gentil Carioca September, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2005
-“Thiago Rocha Pitta”, Galeria Millan Antonio, São Paulo, Brazil.
2004
-“Thiago Rocha Pitta”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May, 2004.
2003
-“Fonte”, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
2002
-“Homenagem a William Turner”, Espaço Cultural Sergio Porto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2001
-“A cópula e os espelhos”, Castelinho do Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015
-“Landscapes, Revisited”, Alvord Art Lab, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, USA, May 8 – June 5, 2015.
2013
-“Blind Field”, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL, USA, curated by Tumelo Mosaka and Irene Small, January 25 – March 31, 2013. Traveled to East Lansing, MI, Broad Art Museum, June 7 – September 8, 2013.
-“Ground. Materiality #2 (Earth)”, Sorø Kunstmuseum, Sorø, Denmark, January 26 – May 5, 2013.
-“Opinione Latina (1)”, Francesca Minini Gallery, Milan, Italy, January 30 – March 30, 2013.
-“Dark Paradise”, Clocktower Gallery, New York, USA February 5 – May 3, 2013.
2012
-“A iminência das poéticas”, 30th Bienal de Sáo Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, September 7 – December 9, 2012.
-Trienal Poli/gráfica de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
-St. Moritz Art Masters, St. Moritz, Switzerland, August 24 – September 2, 2012
-“Home Again – 10 Artists Who Have Experienced Japan”, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, August 28 – November 11, 2012.
-“Super 8”, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany, August 17 – September 16, 2012.
-“Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk”, 21er Haus – the new Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria, January 20 – May 20, 2012.
2011
-“The Garden of Forking Paths”, Migros Museum Für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland, May 2 – October 30, 2011.
-“Super 8”, Christopher Grimes Gallery,Santa Monica, CA, USA, July 8 – September 3, 2011.
-“Unresolved Circumstances: Perspectives on Current Video Art from Latin America”, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, USA, June 5 – August 28, 2011.
-“Commercial Break”, Garage Center Project – 54th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, June 1 – November 24, 2011.
-“L’Idee de Nature”, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, France, April 21 – May 21, 2011.
2010
-“Paisagem Incompleta”, Centro Cultural Usiminas, Ipatinga, Brazil, January 19 – March 7, 2010.
-“The Travelling Show”, Galería Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico, April 15 – September 17, 2010.
-“Fragments latino-americains”, Maison de l’Amerique Latine, Paris, France, November 19, 2010 – January 28, 2011.
2009
-“Nova Arte Nova”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Landschaft 2.0”, Kunstverein & Stiftung Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, Germany.
-“Auszeit”, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany.
-“NatureNation”, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel.
-“Timeout”, Artnews Projects, Berlin, Germany.
2008
-“Nova Arte Nova”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Paralela 08 – de perto e de longe”, Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, São Paulo, Brazil, October 26 – December 7, 2008.
-“Seja Marginal, Seja Heroi”, Galerie Vallois and Galerie Seroussi, Paris, France.
-“Paraísos Indomitos/Untamed Paradises”, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Vigo, Spain. Travelled to Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla, Spain.
-“A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel – Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968-2008”, Centro Andaluz Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla, Spain. Travelled to Fundació, Barcelona, Spain.
-Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Suñol, Vigo, Spain
-Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
-Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo Stadtkino, Mexico City.
2007
-“Number One: Destroy, she said”, Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany.
2006
-“Time Frame”, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA, June 25 – October 2, 2006.
-“Time Frame”, 1st Singapore Biennial, Singapore, September 4 – November 12, 2006.
-“Zeitgenossische Fotokunst aus Brasilien”, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany.
2005
-“Troca Brazil”, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, USA.
– SESI – CNI Marcantonio Vilaça Prize, Edifício Roberto Simonsen, Brasília, Brazil. Traveled to Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Jovem Fotografía Brasileira”, Centro Cultural Telemar, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“J’en Rêve”, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France, June 24 – October 30, 2005.
-“Múltiplos”, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“10 indicam 10”, Candido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-V Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-New Delhi Triennale, New Delhi, India.
-Centrol Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
2004
-“Exposição de verão”, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Posição 2004”, Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Arte Contemporânea Brasileira nas Coleções do Rio”, Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Primeiro Aniversário”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August, 2004.
-“Obra colecionada”, Museu de Art da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
– Paralela, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Serra Cerrado”, Museu Imperial, Petrópolis, Brazil.
2001
-3rd Prize of Urban Interferences, Rio De Janeiro
Collections
-Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA.
-Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris, France.
-Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
-Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany.
-Colección Jumex, México City, Mexico.
-ThyssenKrupp, Vienna, Austria.
-Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, (MAM SP), São Paulo, Brazil.
-Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
-Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil.
-Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil.
Awards
2012
-Brazil, Finalista do Prêmio Pipa
2009
-Open Your Mind Award, St. Moritz Art Masters, Switzerland.
2006
-SESI – CNI Marcantonio Vilaça Prize, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2005
-SESI – CNI Marcantonio Vilaça Prize, Brazil.
2001
-Popular Jury Prize, Urban Interferences APA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.