Contemporary Art Brazil

Description

Brazil is arguably the most fascinating emerging economy in the world today. As a result of its recent exponential growth, the country is experiencing an exciting blossoming of culture across many areas. Contemporary Art Brazil brings together 120 of the most important Brazilians who are currently active in the realm of the fine arts, including artists, gallerists, heads of institutions, critical thinkers and collectors. Extensively illustrated and based on the most up-to-date research, Contemporary Art Brazil provides an invaluable survey of current trends and key players, placing them in the context of Tropicalismo and NeoConcretism, the two movements that first brought the Brazilian art scene to international attention in the 1960s. Although they are regularly challenged, both remain major sources of reference for artists today. The book presents profiles of internationally recognised figures such as the artists Cildo Meireles, Beatriz Milhazes, Ernesto Neto and Tunga, and the collector Bernardo Paz (owner of the world-famous Inhotim sculpture park), as well as other personalities, including the iconic curators Aracy Amaral and Walter Zanini, older-generation artists Antonio Dias and Nelson Leirner, and younger-generation practitioners Jonathas de Andrade, Rodrigo Bivar and Cinthia Marcelle. Contemporary Art Brazil also features four scene-setting essays. The Mexican-born, London-based independent curator Pablo Leon de la Barra approaches Brazilian art from a non-Brazilian perspective. The art historian Kiki Mazzucchelli reviews the history and critical importance of the Sao Paulo Biennial. Rodrigo Moura, editor, writer and curator at Inhotim, surveys the key trends in Brazilian art today. Finally, the Brazilian art historian, curator and writer Paulo Venancio Filho addresses the history of Modernism in Brazil. Offering a comprehensive survey of a vibrant country's equally vibrant art scene, Contemporary Art Brazil is a must read for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of the contemporary culture of South America.

Hossein Amirsadeghi is a writer, publisher, editor and documentary film maker, and the driving force behind many books, including Sanctuary, Art Studio America, Nordic Contemporary and Contemporary Art Mexico. Catherine Petitgas is a lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, specialising in Latin America. She has been a member of the Tate Latin American Acquisitions Committee and the Council of the Serpentine Gallery since 2004, as well as a member of the Acquisitions Commission of Centre Pompidou.