Maria Thereza Negreiros: Offerings

MarĂ­a Thereza Negreiros

OFFERINGS

January 25, 2012- April 1, 2012 The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

María Thereza Negreiros: Offerings

In María Thereza Negreiros’ work (Maues, Brazil, 1930- lives and works in Cali, Colombia) the myth of the return to the origins is inseparable from an affirmation of identity as a Latin American painter whose universal vocation answers the question formulated by Levi Strauss on what we want and what we intend to save as human beings.

and squirmed upon its imminent death”- not only terrified her, but also constituted a revelation: It amounted to an initiatory experience that allowed her to confine herself to paint with an impenetrable tenacity, the mystery of the sources of life in the Amazon, what she calls, "a world of sacred beauty which was doomed to disappear."

The paintings of the Amazon, where she was born and to which she has dedicated the last three decades of her life, cannot be detached from where the artist grew up, "looking at the rocks of the bottom of the river," in the untamed territory where her father cultivated large fields of guaraná.

Thus arise, within her great Amazon Series, the three Igapós (1979, 1994, 2008) included in the exhibit, which illustrate a mastery of an apparent abstract expressionism combined with glazes and details almost hyper-realistic, prodigious water shoots woven with the ribs of the branches in amazing frameworks representing a reality which only seems unusual for those who have not experienced the jungle´s landscapes, as has Negreiros.

After being recognized by important art critics such as Marta Traba as a pioneer and avantgarde artist in Colombia, fate took her back to the tropical forest landscape where she asked herself, humbly, about the vocation of the artist in a continent where violence is not only a social issue but also an environmental one, and she embarked on her search to find "a new expression of the American man.”

Against the tacit conventions established by the avant-garde, having been an abstract expressionist, an informalist looking for an imperishable material, and a pioneer of minimal optical installations, she immersed herself in the search for a new expression as a Latin American artist who returned to painting at the time its “death” was foretold.

The ultimate experience, the point of no return in her journey, happened the day she witnessed a raging fire caused by the hand of man and heard the groan of the dying forest, tortured by the blaze. Her feeling of smallness against the immensity of the destruction of the powerful rain forest –that, according to the artist, “was alive

In contrast to the vitality of water flowing between the profuse green -"the color of the jungle and its loneliness"- her Amazon Fires show death as a fiery red field which extends beyond, breaking all greenery and leaving only smoke. In that game between Genesis and end, between the jungle’s powerful life and its extinction driven by human dementia, Negreiros’ only path was one of exorcism and complaint, to create a work that transcends into the sphere of the political and, on the other hand, to revere the sacred immensity of the jungle.

Director’s Statement

The Amazon River has inspired the work of María Thereza Negreiros since her childhood in Brazil’s tropical rainforest. The rich colors, deep foliage and mysterious habitat full of birds, animals and strange vegetation have long fascinated artists and her personal experiences bring nature to life in monumental and dramatic canvases handled with extraordinary virtuosity. Her unique method of painting, based on a visual vocabulary that comes from the depths of her spirit, speaks to the dangers of deforestation and with it the loss of life and incomparable beauty. Through colorful abstractions and shadowy imagery replete with references to the sensuous forms of mossy river banks and steaming jungle heat, she brings attention to the plight of this wild environment which is threated by death from man and nature herself. It is a poignant story that is meant to reveal that the destruction of nature also means the destruction of the people who have dwelt within for generations, lost to the fires that are wrought from the loss of trees and water which long provided their protection and that of their

surroundings. Negreiros witnessed these fires long ago, but never forgot the terror of that moment in time. She turns her paintings red in homage to such irretrievable damage, and in direct contrast to the works that are saturated greens and blues: green to symbolize the trees and amazing vegetation of the Amazon, and blue to symbolize the rivers, the sources of life. Hers is a message, a warning, but also a tribute to nature’s beauty and perseverance that she sees as hope and could never forsake even after she left Brazil and pursued her career in the very different environment of Cali, Colombia. It is a privilege to exhibit the works of María Thereza Negreiros and tell her story and that of nature.

Carol Damian Director and Chief Curator The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum

Through her paintings, Maria Thereza Negreiros performs an act of offering to the Amazon of her birth, and promotes an environmentalist message of living in harmony with nature and promoting balance on Earth.

Adriana Herrera Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig Curators

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VII, Module VIII, Module IX, 1995, Oil on canvas, 71 x 71 inches

María Thereza Negreiros: Offerings

In María Thereza Negreiros’ work (Maues, Brazil, 1930- lives and works in Cali, Colombia) the myth of the return to the origins is inseparable from an affirmation of identity as a Latin American painter whose universal vocation answers the question formulated by Levi Strauss on what we want and what we intend to save as human beings.

and squirmed upon its imminent death”- not only terrified her, but also constituted a revelation: It amounted to an initiatory experience that allowed her to confine herself to paint with an impenetrable tenacity, the mystery of the sources of life in the Amazon, what she calls, "a world of sacred beauty which was doomed to disappear."

The paintings of the Amazon, where she was born and to which she has dedicated the last three decades of her life, cannot be detached from where the artist grew up, "looking at the rocks of the bottom of the river," in the untamed territory where her father cultivated large fields of guaraná.

Thus arise, within her great Amazon Series, the three Igapós (1979, 1994, 2008) included in the exhibit, which illustrate a mastery of an apparent abstract expressionism combined with glazes and details almost hyper-realistic, prodigious water shoots woven with the ribs of the branches in amazing frameworks representing a reality which only seems unusual for those who have not experienced the jungle´s landscapes, as has Negreiros.

After being recognized by important art critics such as Marta Traba as a pioneer and avantgarde artist in Colombia, fate took her back to the tropical forest landscape where she asked herself, humbly, about the vocation of the artist in a continent where violence is not only a social issue but also an environmental one, and she embarked on her search to find "a new expression of the American man.”

Against the tacit conventions established by the avant-garde, having been an abstract expressionist, an informalist looking for an imperishable material, and a pioneer of minimal optical installations, she immersed herself in the search for a new expression as a Latin American artist who returned to painting at the time its “death” was foretold.

The ultimate experience, the point of no return in her journey, happened the day she witnessed a raging fire caused by the hand of man and heard the groan of the dying forest, tortured by the blaze. Her feeling of smallness against the immensity of the destruction of the powerful rain forest –that, according to the artist, “was alive

In contrast to the vitality of water flowing between the profuse green -"the color of the jungle and its loneliness"- her Amazon Fires show death as a fiery red field which extends beyond, breaking all greenery and leaving only smoke. In that game between Genesis and end, between the jungle’s powerful life and its extinction driven by human dementia, Negreiros’ only path was one of exorcism and complaint, to create a work that transcends into the sphere of the political and, on the other hand, to revere the sacred immensity of the jungle.

Director’s Statement

The Amazon River has inspired the work of María Thereza Negreiros since her childhood in Brazil’s tropical rainforest. The rich colors, deep foliage and mysterious habitat full of birds, animals and strange vegetation have long fascinated artists and her personal experiences bring nature to life in monumental and dramatic canvases handled with extraordinary virtuosity. Her unique method of painting, based on a visual vocabulary that comes from the depths of her spirit, speaks to the dangers of deforestation and with it the loss of life and incomparable beauty. Through colorful abstractions and shadowy imagery replete with references to the sensuous forms of mossy river banks and steaming jungle heat, she brings attention to the plight of this wild environment which is threated by death from man and nature herself. It is a poignant story that is meant to reveal that the destruction of nature also means the destruction of the people who have dwelt within for generations, lost to the fires that are wrought from the loss of trees and water which long provided their protection and that of their

surroundings. Negreiros witnessed these fires long ago, but never forgot the terror of that moment in time. She turns her paintings red in homage to such irretrievable damage, and in direct contrast to the works that are saturated greens and blues: green to symbolize the trees and amazing vegetation of the Amazon, and blue to symbolize the rivers, the sources of life. Hers is a message, a warning, but also a tribute to nature’s beauty and perseverance that she sees as hope and could never forsake even after she left Brazil and pursued her career in the very different environment of Cali, Colombia. It is a privilege to exhibit the works of María Thereza Negreiros and tell her story and that of nature.

Carol Damian Director and Chief Curator The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum

Through her paintings, Maria Thereza Negreiros performs an act of offering to the Amazon of her birth, and promotes an environmentalist message of living in harmony with nature and promoting balance on Earth.

Adriana Herrera Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig Curators

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VII, Module VIII, Module IX, 1995, Oil on canvas, 71 x 71 inches

María Thereza Negreiros: Offerings

In María Thereza Negreiros’ work (Maues, Brazil, 1930- lives and works in Cali, Colombia) the myth of the return to the origins is inseparable from an affirmation of identity as a Latin American painter whose universal vocation answers the question formulated by Levi Strauss on what we want and what we intend to save as human beings.

and squirmed upon its imminent death”- not only terrified her, but also constituted a revelation: It amounted to an initiatory experience that allowed her to confine herself to paint with an impenetrable tenacity, the mystery of the sources of life in the Amazon, what she calls, "a world of sacred beauty which was doomed to disappear."

The paintings of the Amazon, where she was born and to which she has dedicated the last three decades of her life, cannot be detached from where the artist grew up, "looking at the rocks of the bottom of the river," in the untamed territory where her father cultivated large fields of guaraná.

Thus arise, within her great Amazon Series, the three Igapós (1979, 1994, 2008) included in the exhibit, which illustrate a mastery of an apparent abstract expressionism combined with glazes and details almost hyper-realistic, prodigious water shoots woven with the ribs of the branches in amazing frameworks representing a reality which only seems unusual for those who have not experienced the jungle´s landscapes, as has Negreiros.

After being recognized by important art critics such as Marta Traba as a pioneer and avantgarde artist in Colombia, fate took her back to the tropical forest landscape where she asked herself, humbly, about the vocation of the artist in a continent where violence is not only a social issue but also an environmental one, and she embarked on her search to find "a new expression of the American man.”

Against the tacit conventions established by the avant-garde, having been an abstract expressionist, an informalist looking for an imperishable material, and a pioneer of minimal optical installations, she immersed herself in the search for a new expression as a Latin American artist who returned to painting at the time its “death” was foretold.

The ultimate experience, the point of no return in her journey, happened the day she witnessed a raging fire caused by the hand of man and heard the groan of the dying forest, tortured by the blaze. Her feeling of smallness against the immensity of the destruction of the powerful rain forest –that, according to the artist, “was alive

In contrast to the vitality of water flowing between the profuse green -"the color of the jungle and its loneliness"- her Amazon Fires show death as a fiery red field which extends beyond, breaking all greenery and leaving only smoke. In that game between Genesis and end, between the jungle’s powerful life and its extinction driven by human dementia, Negreiros’ only path was one of exorcism and complaint, to create a work that transcends into the sphere of the political and, on the other hand, to revere the sacred immensity of the jungle.

Director’s Statement

The Amazon River has inspired the work of María Thereza Negreiros since her childhood in Brazil’s tropical rainforest. The rich colors, deep foliage and mysterious habitat full of birds, animals and strange vegetation have long fascinated artists and her personal experiences bring nature to life in monumental and dramatic canvases handled with extraordinary virtuosity. Her unique method of painting, based on a visual vocabulary that comes from the depths of her spirit, speaks to the dangers of deforestation and with it the loss of life and incomparable beauty. Through colorful abstractions and shadowy imagery replete with references to the sensuous forms of mossy river banks and steaming jungle heat, she brings attention to the plight of this wild environment which is threated by death from man and nature herself. It is a poignant story that is meant to reveal that the destruction of nature also means the destruction of the people who have dwelt within for generations, lost to the fires that are wrought from the loss of trees and water which long provided their protection and that of their

surroundings. Negreiros witnessed these fires long ago, but never forgot the terror of that moment in time. She turns her paintings red in homage to such irretrievable damage, and in direct contrast to the works that are saturated greens and blues: green to symbolize the trees and amazing vegetation of the Amazon, and blue to symbolize the rivers, the sources of life. Hers is a message, a warning, but also a tribute to nature’s beauty and perseverance that she sees as hope and could never forsake even after she left Brazil and pursued her career in the very different environment of Cali, Colombia. It is a privilege to exhibit the works of María Thereza Negreiros and tell her story and that of nature.

Carol Damian Director and Chief Curator The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum

Through her paintings, Maria Thereza Negreiros performs an act of offering to the Amazon of her birth, and promotes an environmentalist message of living in harmony with nature and promoting balance on Earth.

Adriana Herrera Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig Curators

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VII, Module VIII, Module IX, 1995, Oil on canvas, 71 x 71 inches

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST Jungle Fires, Offering, Module II, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module III, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VII, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VIII, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module IX, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Igapo, The Fallen Branch, 2008 Oil on canvas 30 x 34 inches

Igapo no. 1,1979 Oil on canvas 37 x 43 inches

Great Ipago, 1994 Oil on canvas 37 x 60 inches

Amazon Space, 2011 Oil on canvas 59 x 59 inches

Jungle, 2011 Oil on canvas 59 x 59 inches

ARTIST’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere thanks to the Frost Art Museum, to its director Carol Damian, to the curators Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig and Adriana Herrera, as well as to the people who made this exhibition possible: to all of them, thank you.

Somehow my work evokes both man and nature, especially the pioneer figure of my father who taught me to love and respect the jungle and the Apoquitaua River, on whose banks I was born, grew up and was happy. He showed me the beauty and the poetry of the tropical jungle, as well as the suffering and depredation that tortures this primeval world.

María Thereza Negreiros

I hope that these feelings reach those who visit this exhibition.

María Thereza Negreiros

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | f: 305.348.2762 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu | w: thefrost.fiu.edu Museum Hours: Tues-Sat: 10am-5pm / Sun: 12pm-5pm / Mon: Closed

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the MiamiDade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

Photographers: Fernell Franco and Sylvia Patiño Igapo, The Fallen Branch, 2008, Oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches Jungle, 2011, Oil on canvas, 59 x 59 inches

OFFERINGS

January 25, 2012- April 1, 2012 The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST Jungle Fires, Offering, Module II, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module III, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VII, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module VIII, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Jungle Fires, Offering, Module IX, 1995 Oil on canvas 71 x 71 inches

Igapo, The Fallen Branch, 2008 Oil on canvas 30 x 34 inches

Igapo no. 1,1979 Oil on canvas 37 x 43 inches

Great Ipago, 1994 Oil on canvas 37 x 60 inches

Amazon Space, 2011 Oil on canvas 59 x 59 inches

Jungle, 2011 Oil on canvas 59 x 59 inches

ARTIST’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere thanks to the Frost Art Museum, to its director Carol Damian, to the curators Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig and Adriana Herrera, as well as to the people who made this exhibition possible: to all of them, thank you.

Somehow my work evokes both man and nature, especially the pioneer figure of my father who taught me to love and respect the jungle and the Apoquitaua River, on whose banks I was born, grew up and was happy. He showed me the beauty and the poetry of the tropical jungle, as well as the suffering and depredation that tortures this primeval world.

María Thereza Negreiros

I hope that these feelings reach those who visit this exhibition.

María Thereza Negreiros

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | f: 305.348.2762 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu | w: thefrost.fiu.edu Museum Hours: Tues-Sat: 10am-5pm / Sun: 12pm-5pm / Mon: Closed

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the MiamiDade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

Photographers: Fernell Franco and Sylvia Patiño Igapo, The Fallen Branch, 2008, Oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches Jungle, 2011, Oil on canvas, 59 x 59 inches

OFFERINGS

January 25, 2012- April 1, 2012 The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum