Photos by Joan Cox for BmoreArt
Sérgio Sister is an abstract painter whose current body of work consists of wall-mounted box-like structures in wood, resembling fruit crates and open gateways, and featuring elements painted in a range of brilliant colors. Using the supporting wall as an integrated ground on which to create layers of shadowed planes, the works live on the edge between painting and sculpture, creating a visual hum that derives from the tension between flat and deep space, and between veracity and illusion.
The exhibition features works from Sister’s “Caixas” and “Pontaletes” series, as well as a selection of paintings on paper. In 1996 the artist started making “caixas” (boxes)– paintings on wooden crates akin to fruit crates found in Brazilian open markets. The series incorporates bands of luminous color in varying widths, in works that transform into poetic insignias within the sanctity of the gallery space. Other works, such as the larger “pontaletes” (painted posts), which are arranged like physical drawings upon a gallery wall and in the space directly in front of it, similarly vacillate between the real world and the fictive space of art. Sister’s works thus suggest windows and doorways, or perhaps, metaphorically speaking, passageways for transition between dimensions.
Sérgio Sister was born in 1948, in São Paulo, where he currently lives and works. He studied painting at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation, in São Paulo in the 1960s, undertaking graduate studies in social sciences and post-graduate studies in political science at the University of São Paulo. In 1970, Sister was arrested for political reasons, and subjected to methods of torture. While detained for 19 months at the Tiradentes Prison, São Paulo, the artist painted and created an extensive body of drawings. In 2002, the monograph Sérgio Sister was published by the editions Casa da Imagem, with essays by Alberto Tassinari, Lorenzo Mammì, and Rodrigo Naves. Featured in the 9th and 25th editions of the Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (1967, 2002), Sister’s work has been shown internationally, as well as extensively throughout Brazil. It is included in major public collections such as the Museu de Arte Moderna, the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, and the Pinacoteca do Estado in São Paulo (where the artist had a major one-man exhibition in 2013). The publication Sérgio Sister created on the occasion of the exhibition by the same name at the Pinacoteca (2013) stands as the most complete book to date documenting the history of the artist’s work.
Goya Contemporary Gallery promotes the art and culture of our time by presenting new works and ideas through exhibitions, curatorial practice, catalogues, print publishing, artist representation, and by encouraging artistic collection. The gallery builds private & public collections, assist in acquisitions, and facilitate auction activity. Goya Contemporary has earned international acclaim for its thought-provoking exhibitions, innovative programming, and unique collaborations with artists. Known as one of the most prestigious and long running galleries in the Mid-Atlantic, Goya is dedicated to scholarly programming, and promoting the work of mid-career artists both internationally and locally.
