(this page was last updated in July 2018)
Terra Boa, Paraná, Brazil, 1973.
Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.
Represented by Galeria Marilia Razuk, Athena Contemporânea and Celma Albuquerque.
PIPA 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 nominee.
Vanderlei Lopes is an artist who works on the boundaries between diverse languages like drawing, photography, sculpture, video, sound, etc. He’s been dedicated to explore questions of the tradition repositioning them from current directions. It deals with ideas of perception and transience, inheritance and fugacity, as in “Cavalo”, exposed in 2016 in the octagon of the Pinacoteca, in São Paulo, an animal printed in bronze, filled with earth until it overflows, fixed between the moment it falls on the ground and the imminence of getting up.
Website: www.vanderleilopes.com.br
Video produced by Do Rio Filmes exclusively for PIPA Prize 2018:
Vanderlei Lopes is an artist who works on the boundaries between diverse languages like drawing, photography, sculpture, video, sound, etc, has been dedicated to explore questions of the tradition repositioning them from current directions. It deals with ideas of perception and transience, inheritance and fugacity, as in Cavalo, exposed in With “Domo” a work showed at the Capela do Morumbi in São Paulo, an ideal dome built in clay measuring around 5m x 10 meters and weighing almost 5 tons, occupying the interior of the physical space of the chapel, so as to make it difficult to enter and look, at a glance, take account of seeing it in its entirety. In the chapel's baptism room, two tables feature design, sketch, bronze-cast designs made after the Dome was ready, activate the work by reversing the relationship between final work and process, between the work par excellence and the sketches that originated it.
2016 in the octagon of the Pinacoteca, in São Paulo, an animal printed in bronze, filled with earth until it overflows, fixed between the moment it falls on the ground and the imminence of getting up.
12 steps for the construction of DOME* 1. DOME 3. Triad 4. Inheritance 5. Bankruptcy 6. Architecture 7. Scale 10. Project as end Text written for the work “Domo” A dome is a roof structure present in many cultures. This architectural element confers solemnity, power and importance to the constructions above it. Its relation to the “heavenly spheres” adds sacred dimensions to these buildings. For the construction of “Dome”, Vanderlei has created a base of twelve faces, a number that refers to the ideal of perfection and to the various forms of structuring adopted by mankind to organize time, such as the twelve hours of the clock, of the day or night, the twelve months of the year, etc. The “Dome” of the Morumbi Chapel is an ideal architectural fragment sculpture. It was constructed from elements based on Gothic / Renaissance typologies. The choice of materials is intended to produce friction between the solemn imagery that the dome evokes, and an archaic, earthly repertoire to which the clay refers. Built on a monumental scale and tilted to the ground like a ruin, it fills the interior of the chapel. Its Renaissance typology alludes to a period permeated with a certain optimism. Culture looks to antiquity to set a more ingenious man, and valued science leaves behind an era dominated, above all, by religious obscurantism. Originating from a more recent time, the Chapel was built by Gregori Warchavchik in the late 1940s, over 17th-century ruins of rammed earth, a typical colonial construction method prevalent between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. As if in reverse chronology, Vanderlei Lopes’ work produces a space-time collision which, as the visitor enters the chapel, encourages a meeting with a precious, even more distant past. “It’s as if the chapel were impregnated with a past which, unrelated to it, presents itself as a gift”, says the artist. In this sense, “Dome” articulates, through this architectural fragment, a reflection on cultural formation, tradition, and its relations with contemporary transience.
by Douglas de Freitas
The word DOME originates from the Latin dŏmus, which signifies habitation, but the Latin word itself has a more distant past. Its origin comes from medieval Latin, from the expression domus episcopi, which means house of the bishop or cathedral. In architecture domes are the finishing touch, the buildings which internally produce the cupolas. DOME is also the name of the installation that artist Vanderlei Lopes has designed to occupy the Morumbi Chapel.
The piece, embedded in the nave of the Chapel is analogous to an ideal real-scale Renaissance DOME, executed in 12 equal parts of clay, totaling four meters in diameter by almost ten in length.
2. The fall
Vanderlei Lopes’s DOME is fallen. The toppling of the piece, besides explaining a time off-axis, also mentions the condition of an archaeological artifact, an object of cultural value for humanity to be preserved, such as the Morumbi Chapel itself, listed as an historical landmark.
The fall of the DOME brings the sky to the earth, converts the divine cupola
into a dark hole.
The idea of a triad permeates the work, not only because of the religiosity imposed on it by its own architecture – even though it is not consecrated, the architecture of the Chapel attributes symbolism to space—but also with the adornments present in the DOME, and by the disjunction of the times present there. The seventeenth century rammed earth and the Warchavchik intervention made in the 1940s now harbor, on a compromised scale, a third element, from a third time.
Vanderlei Lopes’ work constantly puts in check the cultural, intellectual and artistic tradition. The procedures used, as well as the forms and definitions of the projects, take into question the established tradition, whether in the realm of art, culture, the market, or life itself.
The fall, quoted here in item 2, goes beyond the patrimonial issue and the physical fall of the DOME. It also points to the bankruptcy of certain ideologies and values, such as those of the Renaissance that gave rise to the DOME, among many others that present themselves every day and which quickly depreciate and become ruins, often before they are consolidated, or even exist.
In direct contact with the Morumbi Chapel, the architectural character of the DOME is made explicit. Right at the entrance, one can see the fitting of the base, in 12 wooden structures that surround the dome now converted into a hole. Between the ruptures in the clay surface it is possible to notice, with a little attention, internal structural lines. And entering the chapel, until finding the tip of the tower, one sees the drawn adornments and towers of its outer face. Its surface, similar in color to that of the Chapel, lends lightness to the DOME, and almost camouflages it on the walls in a dubious movement of belonging and estrangement.
The body constructs the scale of the work. The clay gives dimension of body, of skin. From the entrance we see ourselves inside, swallowed by the hole that the dome created in the fall. Visible only in design, since its position in the space doesn’t allow looking from great distances, fallen dome and tower have the shape of an optical nerve.
But the Dome obstructs the view. From outside the space you can see the inside of the Dome, and from inside the Chapel you can see the outside of it. There is no complete view.
8. Sculpture as excavation
The primordial act itself of sculpture is to dig, to remove matter to give form. The DOME appears here as a sculpture wrought from archeology, it seems to have been in the Chapel from the earliest times, to have been found along with the walls, excavated from the earth. Its cracked clay surface confers time to the DOME, resembles rammed earth, and the surface of the DOME approximates even more the textures of the clay walls of the Chapel.
9. Object in process
DOME was constructed as an observation experiment. Not that it has no value itself as an end result, but its goal is not only in the object, but in the experience of building. It is to build as a drawing, or better yet, to build as a sketch, as an outline.
If the sculpture has a projectural character, its projects become sculpture. In the baptistry, an annex to the central nave of the Chapel, Vanderlei presents drawings in observational notes and the DOME construction process. These drawings of various shapes are now cast in bronze, permanently converted. They are what remains of DOME.
11. Deception
Deception is another constant in the artist’s work. What appears to be drawn on paper is bronze sculpture, and what looks like a fragment of architecture found in an archaeological dig is the artist’s sculpture. The deception here is forging time and matter.
12. Perfection
The number 12 that appears entangled in this project symbolizes perfection in various cultures and religions. Perfection here has an almost mythical value; it is not for the good done or well finished, but for a certain aura that walking through these 12 steps builds in the work, and that shows itself in itself. The DOME of Vanderlei Lopes presupposes one final step, a possible conversion into bronze that would transmute it in luminosity within and resistance without… thus no longer being a project and study to convert itself, as in a miracle, in constancy and permanence.
* the expressions and words that compose this list were extracted from the artist's notebooks
by Matias Brotas
Education
– Bachelor’s degree in Plastic Arts, UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
Solo Exhibitions
2016
– “Monumento”, curated by Douglas de Freitas, Galeria Athena Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
2014
– “Grilagem”, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
– “Tudo que reluz é ouro”, curated by Fernanda Pequeno, Galeria Athena Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
– “Transitorio”, Galeria Nueveochenta, Bogotá, Colômbia
2013
– “Cavalo”, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, SP
– “Ocupação”, curated by Mario Gioia, Praça Victor Civita/Atelier A Pipa, São Paulo, SP
2011
– “Horas seculares e instantâneas”, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Niterói, RJ
– “7 quedas”, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, SP
2009
– “Inventário”, Galeria Virgilio, São Paulo, SP
2007
– “Maus Hábitos”, Porto, Portugal
– “Pássaros”, Galeria Virgilio, São Paulo, SP
2005
– “Ephemeras”, Galeria Virgilio, São Paulo, SP
2004
– Centro de Arte Maria Antonia, São Paulo, SP
– “Vôo”, Espaço 397. São Paulo
2003
– “Programa de Exposições 2003”, Centro Cultural São Paulo, SP
2002
– “Vanderlei Lopes”, Galeira 10,20 x 3,60, São Paulo, SP
Group Exhibitions
2016
– “Gold Rush”, De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA, EUA
– “Uma coleção particular”, Arte Contemporânea no Acervo da Pinacoteca, curated by José Augusto Ribeiro, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (2015/2016)
2015
– “Fotos contam fatos”, curated by Denise Gadelha, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
– “ArtBO”, Galeria Marília Razuk, Bogotá, Colombia
– “A Tramas do Tempo na Arte Contemporânea: Estética ou Poética?”, curated by Daniela Bousso, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2012
– “Manobras poéticas”, curated by Vanda Klabin, Galeria Athena Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “[alguns de] NÓS”, curated by Claudio Cretti, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
– “O colecionador de sonhos”, curated by Agnaldo Farias, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
– “Nova Escultura Brasileira – Heranças e Diversidades”, curated by Alexandre Murucci, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Realidades”, Desenho Contemporâneo Brasileiro, curated by Nazareno, SESC-SP, São Paulo, Brazil
2010
– “Coordenadas Poéticas”, Hilal Sami Hilal, Malu Fatorelli, Vanderlei Lopes, H.A.P. Galeria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2009
– “Ao redor de 4’33”, curated by Lenora de Barros, Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
– “Les cartes blanches du Silo à l’emsba”, curated by Wagner Morales, Beaux-Arts de Paris, L`École Nationale Supérieure, Paris, France
– “Loop Videoart Barcelona 2009”, curated by Wagner Morales, Centre Civic Pati Llimona, Barcelona, Spain
– “Nova Arte Nova”, curated by Paulo Venancio Filho, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
2008
– “Nova Arte Nova”, curated by Paulo Venancio Filho, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2007
– “Pinta”, Galeria Virgilio, Nova York, EUA
– “Novas Aquisições – Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand”, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2006
– “ArteBA”, Buenos Aires, Argentina
– X Bienal de Santos, Brazil
2005
– Acquisition Award from the “Programa de Exposições no Acervo do Centro Cultural”, São Paulo, Brazil
2004
– “Arte Contemporânea no Acervo Municipal”, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Brazil
2003
– 28º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Ribeirão Preto, C.C. Alto do São Bento, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
– “10,20 x 3,60”, Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2002
– “Nefelibatas”, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil
– “Genius Loci – O Espírito do Lugar”, curated by Lorenzo Mammì, Centro Universitário MariAntônia, São Paulo, Brazil
– “São Paulo Arte”, Oca, São Paulo, Brazil
2001
– Flávia Bertinato, Thiago Honório, Vanderlei Lopes, Galeria Rosa Barbosa, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Figura Impressa”, Galeria Adriana Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil
– 29º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André [Acquisition Award], Santo André, Brazil
2000
– 7º Salão de Arte de Santa Catarina, Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
– 25º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Ribeirão Preto, C.C. Alto do São Bento, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
– “Iniciativas / Olho seco”, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Brazil
1999
– “Retralha”, Funarte, São Paulo, Brazil
1998
– 30º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, Brazil
1998
– 25º Salão de Arte Jovem [Mention of Honor], Santos, Brazil
Awards
2016
– Pirelli Award, RioArt Fair [work donation to MAR, Rio’s museum of modern Art] Brazil
2007
– Selected by Bolsa Iberê Camargo 2007, [digital magazine], Porto Alegre, Brazil
2005
– Acquisition Award from the “Programa de Exposições no Acervo do Centro Cultural”, São Paulo, Brazil
2001
– Acquisition Award of the “29º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André”, Santo André, Brazil
1998
– Mention of Honor at the “25º Salão de Arte Jovem”, Santos, Brazil
Public Collections
– Acervo Municipal de São Paulo, Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
– Coleção Itaú, São Paulo, Brazil
– Gilberto Chateaubriand, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
– MAM-RJ, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– MAM-SP, Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil
– MAR, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– MAC-USP, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
– Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
– Prefeitura Municipal de Santo André, Santo André, Brazil
Video produced by Matrioska Filmes exclusively for PIPA Prize 2016:
Video produced by Matrioska Filmes exclusively for PIPA Prize 2012:
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