Gabriela Machado | Cadê o Abre Alas?: curated by Oswaldo Corrêa da Costa

2 April - 4 May 2024
Overview

 

“(This show contains) distinctive solutions to the problem of making a pigmented rectangle hold its own intelligently and beautifully in a world grown hostile to painting. (…) Nothing but a painting gives us a world of thought and feeling at a glance and then holds us, with surges of complicated pleasure, over time¹.

Where is the Abre Alas?² is a large exhibition of small paintings and a small exhibition of large paintings. The exhibition also contains a large bookshelf with small glazed ceramic sculptures, as in the artist's studio.

One of the gallery's missions is to promote conversations between the exhibition program and the residence it occupies, designed by Rino Levi. With this in mind, we adopted the displays that Lina Bo Bardi developed for MASP, using versions of her glass easels in the luminous living room, surrounded by Burle-Marx gardens.

In the annex, we have put together a retrospective of 124 small landscapes, dating from 2016 to 2024. For these, we opted for a systematic approach, arranging them in order of lightness/darkness. The objective is to minimize authorial subjectivity and generate previously unthought combinations. Facing them we have three larger canvases, both from 2023. The exhibition of small paintings continues in the main house, where 18 of them hang on glass easels in the living room. Four larger canvases, also from 2023, hang freely on the other side of the fireplace and in an adjoining room.

The placement of large and small canvases side by side may raise the question: how does canvas size affect the result? Does size matter? Larger canvases allow for wider brushes, more expansive gestures, greater narrative potential. Smaller canvases require thinner brushes, more restrained gestures, greater synthesis. Can you detect differences in temperament between the works on different sizes?

In the annex, the large canvases with colored backgrounds appear to be going supernova, explosive pictorial clashes where patches of color coexist with powerful graphic elements. The rows of smaller paintings, sublime and contained, are closer in spirit to medieval illuminations, Byzantine icons, Mughal miniatures; objects of devotion saturated with seduction. In the main house, the heterogeneous selection of smaller paintings showcases the diversity of their formats and themes, while the larger paintings on white backgrounds, muscular and economical, resemble watercolors, evoking the gestural nature of the artist's large-scale drawings.

Machado paints like someone who keeps a diary. A form of breathing that, unlike some of the most notable colleagues of her generation, takes place without any intermediation that might signal the exhaustion of modernist painting. Signaling that, if it exists here, occurs at the level of image, and not process, of ends and not means; occurs in the free transit between the gestural tendencies that dominated in the past and the representation that is more frequent today; occurs in the coexistence of words and images. Here, everything presses towards the pictorial, even the striking and fascinating enameled porcelain sculptures. These are all works without sketches or studies, of deceptive informality, born from a fertile imagination; works informed by deep knowledge accumulated over a long road, by skill unconcerned with exhibitionism. The primacy always belongs to the hand; its imprint is always visible.

Painting for the sake of painting is an impulse that precedes Lascaux. Except for abstractions, a pretext is needed, such as a landscape. Most of the works on display are, to a greater or lesser extent, landscapes; without artifice, without intermediation, without stencils, rulers, or straight lines. In them, nothing interferes with the magical moment when the brush touches the canvas, like a pair of fingers meeting on the ceiling of a Vatican chapel. Modernism and its avant-gardes may have triggered an evolutionary process in painting that disembarked at the final stop -- the black or white monochrome -- but, for this ancient craft, there is clearly life after extinction. A life where atavistic drives generate poetics like this one; poetics that, paradoxically, remain contemporary thanks to their timelessness.

 

Oswaldo Corrêa da Costa - curator



[1] Peter Schjeldahl, Village Voice, February 13, 1996. Review of the exhibition Screenery, organized by Joshua Decter at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York.

[2] TN: the Abre Alas is the leading allegorical car, or float, that opens each samba school’s parade.

Installation Views
Works
  • Gabriela Machado "Cadê o Abre Alas?", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Cadê o Abre Alas?", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Troca de roupa e vai-se logo embora”, 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 28 x 36 cm 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Troca de roupa e vai-se logo embora”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm
    11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Take good care”, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Take good care”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Que nem um pedaço do seu pode ser”, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Que nem um pedaço do seu pode ser”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Ela vem em minha direção”, 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 30 x 37 cm 11.81 x 14.57 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Ela vem em minha direção”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    30 x 37 cm
    11.81 x 14.57 in
  • Gabriela Machado “É tudo culpa do amor”, 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 29 x 36 cm 11.42 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “É tudo culpa do amor”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    29 x 36 cm
    11.42 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado “É só balançar”, 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 30 x 37 cm 11.81 x 14.57 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “É só balançar”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    30 x 37 cm
    11.81 x 14.57 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Aqui”, 2019 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Aqui”, 2019
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Como é minha mãe”, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30 x 41 cm | 11.81 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Como é minha mãe”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30 x 41 cm | 11.81 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Berimbau vai te ensinar”, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Berimbau vai te ensinar”, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2016 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2016
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2016 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2016
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2016 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2016
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2018 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 35 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2018
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 35 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2016 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2016
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Vai chegar", 2018 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 35 cm | 11.02 x 13.78 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Vai chegar", 2018
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 35 cm | 11.02 x 13.78 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Una", 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 30 x 37,5 cm 11.81 x 14.76 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Una", 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    30 x 37,5 cm
    11.81 x 14.76 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Redemoinhando", 2019 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Redemoinhando", 2019
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado "O que aprendi", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "O que aprendi", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm | 12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado "No salão", 2019 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "No salão", 2019
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm | 11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Na sua mudança", 2019 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 28 x 36 cm 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Na sua mudança", 2019
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm
    11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 31 x 41 cm 12.2 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    31 x 41 cm
    12.2 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 31,5 x 41,5 cm 12.4 x 16.34 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    31,5 x 41,5 cm
    12.4 x 16.34 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 32 x 41,5 cm | 12.6 x 16.34 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    32 x 41,5 cm | 12.6 x 16.34 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 28 x 36 cm 11.02 x 14.17 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    28 x 36 cm
    11.02 x 14.17 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 32 x 42 cm | 12.6 x 16.53 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    32 x 42 cm | 12.6 x 16.53 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Luas", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Luas", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Boipeba", 2017 acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen 14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Boipeba", 2017
    acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen
    14 x 18 cm | 5.51 x 7.09 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Hoje eu quero sair, a lua me chama", 2018/2021 óleo sobre linho oil on linen 28 x 35,2 cm 11.02 x 13.86 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Hoje eu quero sair, a lua me chama", 2018/2021
    óleo sobre linho
    oil on linen
    28 x 35,2 cm
    11.02 x 13.86 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Aqui cabe tudo!", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14,2 x 18,2 cm | 5.59 x 7.16 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Aqui cabe tudo!", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14,2 x 18,2 cm | 5.59 x 7.16 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Eu ando pelo mundo", 2019 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Eu ando pelo mundo", 2019
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
  • Gabriela Machado "As ondas", 2019 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "As ondas", 2019
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
  • Gabriela Machado "E vai ficando", 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 14,2 x 18,2 cm | 5.59 x 7.16 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "E vai ficando", 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    14,2 x 18,2 cm | 5.59 x 7.16 in
  • Gabriela Machado "É saber", 2020 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "É saber", 2020
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    25 x 30 cm | 9.84 x 11.81 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Vasos”, 2013 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Vasos”, 2013
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Further On Air”, 2016 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Further On Air”, 2016
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Meu bloco”, 2023 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Meu bloco”, 2023
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Eu desejo", 2023 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Eu desejo", 2023
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30 x 25 cm | 11.81 x 9.84 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Cintura fina", 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen 190 x 150 cm | 74.8 x 59.05 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Cintura fina", 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen
    190 x 150 cm | 74.8 x 59.05 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Riviera Violeta", 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen 200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Riviera Violeta", 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen
    200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Arlequim", 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen 200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Arlequim", 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen
    200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
  • Gabriela Machado “Clareou”, 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen 200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
    Gabriela Machado
    “Clareou”, 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen
    200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Cafuné", 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen 200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Cafuné", 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acryllic on linen
    200 x 165 cm | 78.74 x 64.96 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen 200 x 200 cm | 78.74 x 78.74 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen
    200 x 200 cm | 78.74 x 78.74 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2023 acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen 200 x 200 cm | 78.74 x 78.74 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2023
    acrílica sobre linho | acrylic on linen
    200 x 200 cm | 78.74 x 78.74 in
  • Gabriela Machado "Pedrinha miúda eu quero, 2017 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 40,5 x 50,5 cm | 15.94 x 19.88 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "Pedrinha miúda eu quero, 2017
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    40,5 x 50,5 cm | 15.94 x 19.88 in
  • Gabriela Machado "O silêncio de nossa casa", 2018 óleo sobre linho | oil on linen 30,5 x 41 cm | 12.00 x 16.14 in
    Gabriela Machado
    "O silêncio de nossa casa", 2018
    óleo sobre linho | oil on linen
    30,5 x 41 cm | 12.00 x 16.14 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2013 porcelana | porcelain 34 x 24,5 x 20,5 cm | 13.38 x 9.64 x 13.58 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2013
    porcelana | porcelain
    34 x 24,5 x 20,5 cm | 13.38 x 9.64 x 13.58 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2013 porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain 17 x 12 x 10 cm | 6.69 x 4.72 x 3.94 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2013
    porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain
    17 x 12 x 10 cm | 6.69 x 4.72 x 3.94 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2013 porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain 33 x 24 x 18,5 cm | 12.99 x 9.45 x 7.28 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2013
    porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain
    33 x 24 x 18,5 cm | 12.99 x 9.45 x 7.28 in
  • Gabriela Machado Sem título | Untitled, 2013 porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain 32 x 22 x 16,5 cm | 12.60 x 8.66 x 6.50 in
    Gabriela Machado
    Sem título | Untitled, 2013
    porcelana esmaltada | enameled porcelain
    32 x 22 x 16,5 cm | 12.60 x 8.66 x 6.50 in