rebote

Rodrigo Linhares

What I am, I don’t know. I am the simulacrum of myself.

Jean Baudrillard

The display of the self-centered body takes courage. Despite being a contemporary practice, Rodrigo Linhares’ self-portraits (Bento Gonçalves, 1977) reveal more than their intriguing essence; they disclose fragility, violence and tension. As a character in himself, he brings the masculine into performance. Arranged alongside crows (here, perhaps, the transmuted artist), his self-portraits cause uncomfortable layers of interpretation. Through the use of photography, painting and drawing, his visual discourse has and demands strength; causes restlessness. The black-white images (positive and negative), accumulated and serial, tell about his intimate life. In this dynamic, some outstanding works are inscribed, among them Taurus, 2016 and Algorab #10, 2017, in which the studio space also confirms its craft and status.

Rebote, 2020-2021 (series of portraits made up of 10 drawings), seems to subvert the selfabsorbed logic of until then – the artist’s body is no longer the solitary protagonist. Now, the models have their backs to the viewer and reject their gaze – which gives more weapons to the inquiry: who are they? What do they observe? Why do they protest? Yes, would it be repulsive? In fact, the previous image of a hanged crow (present in Rebote, 2019), according to the artist, refers to Vladimir Herzog, killed in 1975 by the repressive forces of the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985). After 40 years of this murder, successive street demonstrations called for the return of the military regime to the country. So, the “rebound” exercise suggests the death drive simultaneous to the resistance against the return of this difficult historical period.

In his investigative process, Linhares again moves from self-portrait to portrait. But, in Rebote/ retratado retratante, 2022, he plays with the power of representation: who is in charge, the portrayed or the portrayer? He, once again, betrays tradition; breaks the rules between observer and observed; between subject and object. Washed drawing, a technique used in Rebote, 20202021, loaded with realism, is replaced by photography (still in black and white). In the first installation, the models are close people, identified by their first names (this is how friends are treated in Brazil), as seen in the title of one of the photographs, from the Rebote/Nancy, 2021 series. Models are participants in the residency of a group of artists at Casa da Escada Colorida in São Paulo. However, they are not just portrayed; they drive the pictures. Through the collective process and dialogue with the other artists, the research and the images were guided by the question: who is in front of and behind the camera? This is a built-in ethical and political clash, but little faced, of the portrait genre.

At this point, it is possible to ask: where is the artist’s body – so dear – to Linhares’ previous research? Has it disappeared? Is it no longer the focus of attention? Well then, it is in both installations: with his back in Rebote, 2020-2021, he is part of that collectivity and, in Rebote/ portrayed portraying, 2022, appears twice, with hands clasped behind her back, Rodris, and, finally, mirrored as a photographer in the portrait of curator Isabella Rjelle. For all, Linhares’ trajectory started from the simulacrum of himself to record himself and others – even so – a practice of self-knowledge and courage.

São Paulo, December 14, 2022

Alecsandra Matias de Oliveira

RETRATADO

SÉRIE

RETRATADO RETRATANTE