Nosso Brasil / Claudia Jaguaribe
06 September - 25 October 2019
Hangar invited two Brazilian artists with radically different expressions and sensibilities. However, what brings them together is the roots and the strength of their attachment to their country.
Claudia Jaguaribe, photographer, explores the different facets and antagonisms of Brazil with a contemporary eye and a realistic perspective. Oscar Oiwa, multi-influenced by Brazil, Japan, and the United States, uses painting and drawing to make us travel into worlds where nature and civilization interconnect in a living disorder. Thanks to the combined talents of Claudia Jaguaribe and Oscar Oiwa, Hangar offers the visitor a particular perspective on landscapes, real or imagined.
Claudia Jaguaribe/ The Nature of Things is an installation that questions the very power of nature over its destruction, inherent in economic progress. The concept of this exhibition was born from the desire to provide a visual understanding of the extremes facing Brazilians in their natural or urban environment. Indeed, Brazil has experienced major human-made environmental disasters, including the development of cities that seem to grow endlessly. The tensions and the consequences of this specific situation have been of interest to Claudia Jaguaribe for a long time. They are the subject of researches from which the various photographic series exhibited at Hangar are derived. By exploring the themes of the urban landscape and environmental issues, Claudia Jaguaribe creates different layers of understanding and narrative. The first images are from 2009, and the last ones were produced this year, especially for the exhibition. Claudia Jaguaribe is an artist who embodies contemporary photography in a lively and ingrained way: she constantly explores the medium until it is « expanded » into very personal forms and spaces. At Hangar, Claudia stimulates the perception of reality and offers the viewer the vision of « her Brazil ».
Oscar Oiwa/ Black & Light. At Hangar, great recent works composed of imaginary landscapes are exhibited. The light is essential in Oscar Oiwa’s works. Besides his paintings, Black and Light, presented for the first time in Europe, is a 360° installation drawing that offers the visitor an immersive experience. The public is invited to enter the 75m2 ‘inflatable balloon’, and become part of the imaginary universe of the artist. From simple material (black markers and a vinyl surface), Oscar wanted to create an exceptional piece. Realized in New York, Black and Light required two weeks of work for six people and the use of 120 markers. Oscar Oiwa assembles very different worlds in his paintings and drawings, and combines, coherently, realism, and imagination. With great pictorial ease, Oscar Oiwa insidiously suggests a certain tragedy without really showing it. The tones of his palette are vibrant and perfectly balanced. They capture the essence of his subjects. Oscar Oiwa defines himself primarily as a « drawer »; the drawing is always the basis of each of his works. If the human figure is absent from his works, it is because Oscar wants the spectator to be part of the work and immerses himself in it.