Defect of Identity: Exhibition by Lucio Salvatore with Curatorship by Marc Pottier
About the Exhibition
The Karla Osorio Gallery and the Embassy of Italy in Brazil are pleased to present “Defect of Identity”, the first exhibition in Brasília by the renowned Italian artist Lucio Salvatore. The exhibition, curated by Marc Pottier, features almost 40 new paintings created in the last two years.
Salvatore’s works explore the politics of identity, migration, and displacement, challenging perceptions of belonging and exclusion. Utilizing visual fragments such as plant portraits and historical images, Salvatore’s compositions function as political statements and aesthetic forms of resistance.
The Importance of Complexity
Lucio Salvatore explains that his paintings are a modest and personal act of resistance to the ideological banalization of reality. He seeks to sustain the complexity of the present, challenging fundamentalist identity narratives that place the “other” in a position of error. His works act as a critical instrument, weaving multiple temporalities and resisting simplification.
Why Brasília?
According to Salvatore, presenting the series in Brasília has symbolic importance, as the city is a stage where power, identity, and the struggle for recognition are debated. Brasília reflects the tensions present in the artist’s paintings, including the friction between ideology and lived experience.
About the Artist
Lucio Salvatore is an Italo-Brazilian artist who lives and works between Rio de Janeiro and Sant’Elia Fiumerapido. His work originated from the condition of being a foreigner and developed a poetic approach from an experimental creative process. His interest lies in the foundational relationship between the complexity of abstract thought formation and historical narratives, as well as the synthesis that occurs in the sensitive experience of the work.
Each sensory element of his works incorporates a cerebral element of Salvatore’s vision, whose possible interpretation keys open paths for deepening macro and micro-political themes addressed with a desire for emancipation.
The artist has works in various public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) Rio de Janeiro, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) Niterói, the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) Rio de Janeiro.
He has exhibited his work in individual exhibitions at the Museum of the Environment, Rio de Janeiro (2022), the National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro (2021), the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro (2017-2018), Palazzo Pamphjli, Rome (2017), the Brazilian Sculpture and Ecology Museum (MuBE) São Paulo (2011), and the Correios Cultural Center, Rio de Janeiro (2010, 2014, 2015, 2016), among others.
About the Karla Osorio Gallery
Since 2017, the Karla Osorio Gallery has been dedicated to introducing contemporary artists to the market and the institutional scene. With a program of temporary exhibitions and participation in international fairs, the gallery supports innovative research and offers an artist residency in a privileged space in Brasília. Learn more.
Details
📅 Opening: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
⏰ Time: 5 PM to 9 PM
📍 Location: Pavilion II, Galleries 4 and 5
📅 On display until: April 23, 2025
⏰ Visitation: Monday to Friday, from 9 AM to 6:30 PM; Saturdays, from 9 AM to 2:30 PM
🎟️ Free entry: By appointment
