The Karla Osorio Gallery presents a solo exhibition by the artist MATHEUS MARQUES ABU at the 1-54 New York. It is the first presentation of the artist in the United States and the SOLO brings together 8 new works by the artist, his most recenT ones. Matheus is a young Afro-Brazilian artist (born in Rio, 1997) whose universe largely revolves around the memory of transatlantic journeys undertaken during the early stages of colonization in Brazil. He sees the sea, nature, and the ideograms of adinkras as extensions of his own body and as a metaphor for community, placing them as central figures in his works.
Through this approach, the elements are granted the ability to narrate their own stories, fostering connections with the past and offering new pathways for interpretation in the future. Abu’s manipulation and relocation of images create an affectionate and nostalgic narrative. His paintings disrupt the conventional relationship between the body and the sea, evoking sensations that allow viewers to establish a timeless connection with the surrounding space. His depictions of diving with birds are so intricately crafted that one can almost feel the sensation of flight.
Curator Igor Simões who has being folowing the artist in the last months, name the presentation here “The dialectic of the Leap or the suspension of time has no death”… There is no danger, there is only the action and the milliseconds of the leap.” As curator Igor Simões says, the artist Matheus Marques Abu is part of a very unique group of artists who invite us to think about a school of painting: the school of black artists from Rio de Janeiro.
This perception does not come out of nowhere and responds to a long tradition. The way in which he manages to bring together on his surface a mastery of the classical elements of composition and, at the same time, a black boy who jumps into the sky and dives, is unprecedented, rare, sophisticated. The beauty achieved by Abu also holds within itself tragedy, drama and, at the same time, the transcendent. All of this calculated and analyzed to the last degree of pictorial making, making those colors and shapes reveal a baroque element. It must be said that, in the Brazilian case, baroque is art produced by black artists”… At other times, as in the hill that looks like sky, the focus changes: the object is only the path to reach the painting as an experience of color. Expanded detail is the path to this understanding of the layers of light and the exercise of constructing a painting that reflects on itself, although not in a way that sounds like the modernist mythology of art for art’s sake”.
On the artist
Matheus is a self thaught artitst, who rescue akkan language (adinkras)through his works is at the same time to challenge dominant visibility regimes and the canon of Eurocentric history (including art history), bringing to light an alternative history invisible to the eyes of the colonial mind.
In 2021, he participated in an artistic residency and had a solo show at Galeria Karla Osorio, in Brasília. He was on an artistic residency in Milan followed by a solo show from october 2022-february 2023. He had artistic residence in Austria – A.I.R Krems (January. 2023) and in Switzerland – One Gee in Fog, Geneve (may-june 2023). He participed in several institutional shows such as DOS BRASIS (Sesc Belenzinho) and FUNK, Museu
de Arte do Rio. .His works were presented in numerous art fairs in Brazil (ArPa, ARTSAMPA, SPArte, ARTRio, Art Genova – Italia, Abu Dhabi Art, Emirates, SPARK Viena, Austria, 1-54 London, ARCO Lisboa). In june-august 2024 he participated in a group show at OCTOBER Gallery, London and in november he had a SOLO show in Porto/ Portugal – Nuno Centeno Gallery. His works took part of major shows in museums in Brazil and Abroad (MAR, SESC Belenzinho, SESC Quitadinha RJ, MADRE Museo, Napoli, Italy). He also has works in collections of renowned museums and institutions such as the Rio Art Museum – MAR, Foundation Getulio Vargas (curated by Paulo Herkenhoff) and the National Museum of Fine Arts – MNBA,all located in Rio de Janeiro.
Karla Osorio Gallery
Created in 2017, Karla Osorio Gallery is the only one in Brasilia with an international presence, participating in fairs in several countries. Its director has extensive experience in contemporary art. In 2000, she created ECCO – Contemporary Cultural Space, which was, for 15 years, the main non-profit private institution dedicated to contemporary art in Brasilia – more than 250 artists featured in solo and group shows, along with educational projects, as well as approximately 100 publications. Some of the artists that were presented are AES+F, Artur Barrio, Bené Fonteles, Cildo Meirelles, Hélio Oiticica, Mario Cravo Neto, Miguel Rio Branco,
Nelson Leirner, Rosângela Rennó, Sebastião Salgado, Vik Muniz, Wang Qing Song, etc.
The gallery represents Brazilian and international artists, early and mid-career, and also operates in the secondary market. It supports innovative artistic production and encourages diverse languages and techniques. Its program has an important focus on geometry, minimalism and visual poetry, in addition to abstractionism, mostly in painting. It is also dedicated to supporting artists who deal with issues related to gender and approach socio-political issues with precision, investigating issues of their time. It develops a project to support emerging collectors and insert artists in the national and international scene. It also has a Branch in São Paulo.
