Biography
Mariana Palma creates unique pictorial spaces built through the juxtaposition of elements belonging to distant families. In her large, saturated-color canvases, tiles coexist with foliage, drains with anemones, theater curtains with flowers, printed fabrics, draped and frayed textiles. In her watercolors and photographs, natural and artificial elements generate improbable hybrids.
The result is unexpectedly harmonious and enigmatic compositions that, by provoking a sense of estrangement, invite viewers to slow down and look closely. Contemplation reveals genetic hints. Grandeur, drama, emotional exuberance, vitality, the construction of movement, the use of contrasting textures and luxurious materials reveal her dialogue with Baroque painting of the 16th and 17th centuries, evoking reflections on sensuality, the ephemerality of beauty, and the bombardment of images in contemporary life. The use of pure colors recalls Flemish painters, while the subtle perspectival effects suggest her mastery (and subversion) of Renaissance teachings.
The artist departs from the foundations of pictorial tradition to address her own concerns. These references filter through her emotional repertoire, generating a body of work in which the apparent overflow of elements follows, at its core, precise organization.
Graduated in Visual Arts from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including:
2017 A Luz que Vela o Corpo é a Mesma que Revela a Tela, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro;
2016 Máquina do Mundo – Works from the Fabio Szwarcwald Collection, Z42 Arte, Rio de Janeiro;
2015 Saideira, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo; Piece by Piece – Building a Collection, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, USA;
2014 Casa Triângulo no Pivô, Pivô, São Paulo;
2012 Deságue, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo; This is Brazil! 1990–2012, Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, A Coruña, Spain;
2011 Os Primeiros Dez Anos, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo; Realidades — Desenho Contemporâneo Brasileiro, SESC Pinheiros, São Paulo;
2009 Investigações Pictóricas, MAC Niterói, Rio de Janeiro; Nova Arte Nova, CCBB, Rio de Janeiro; Poéticas da Natureza, MAC, São Paulo;
2007 Mono#Cromáticos – Vertentes na Arte Contemporânea Brasileira, Galeria Mario Sequeira, Braga, Portugal.