Eduardo Ver had some "godfathers" for this exhibition.
I call godfathers, for example, Bené Fontelles, the author of the catalogue text, and Sérgio Lucena, artist and admirer of Ver's work, who for quite some time has insisted that I paid attention to it. I saw it live for the first time in a group show called Modernismo desde aqui curated by Claudinei Roberto at Paço das Artes in São Paulo.
The force of the artwork got me! It was bold, large, with symbols that immediately reminded me of dear Samico but with authorial language.
Bené Fontelles' text will tell you about Ver.
I invite you to visit this first solo show by Eduardo Ver at Galeria Estaç?o.
I'm sure you'll hear a lot about him in the art world.
Vilma Eid
Ver's extraordinary imaginary terreiros
Rare creators in Brazil who are dedicated to printmaking work with as much loyalty to a mythopoetic iconography as Eduardo Ver. He has been working for two decades with complete dedication and unparalleled craftsmanship. Only Gilvan Samico, starting from the Iberian influence on the northeastern culture of cordel and being a fundamental artist of the Armorial Movement created by Ariano Suassuna, produced such beautiful, vast, complex and extraordinary work; lighting up our imagination forever.
Eduardo Ver emerges, by taste and faith, from the diverse and syncretic universe of Umbanda for each engraving to compose an altar of symbols and intense vibrations as if each work were a “crossed out point.” In his religion, it forms the poetic logos that anchor the strength and the magic of the orixás and caboclos that descend sacred and profane, in the many Umbanda terreiros [places of worship] of Brazil.
The graphic strength of Eduardo's work does not come only from the sacred ground he treads to engage us with narratives of his vast Cosmo vision of these imaginary terreiros, but reveals and veils worlds still so unknown in which Umbanda entities travel and incorporate the Soul of the Brazilian Earth.
Eduardo Ver belongs to and his work is based on the syncretisms and miscegenations originating from the orixás which emanate the memory of the ancestors and the primordial forces of nature that crossed with his people, in the pain of forgetting, the waters of the Atlantic. His work also visits the mystical Christian world that draws on indigenous mythology and flows into the caboclo universe, the pretos velhos and the Eastern line, to form a plural Brazil, as true as it is denied by those who still do not honor a culture that gives us strength, root and rare originality.
Only one engraving by Eduardo Ver contains parallel and multiple universes. It also has a force that is not only expressive for its aesthetics, but also for the energy that emanates from each vibrational field that composes and recomposes worlds. It reminds me of the spiritual craft of Tibetan Buddhist monks when they patiently made thangkas, their sand and pigment mandalas on the ground or painted on fabric, to re-signify and embody energy fields in their tradition and faith also inherited from native shamanism.
Eduardo Ver “trans-sees” worlds – as the ground poetry of Manoel de Barros wanted – to dialogue with the reverse of things and superimposes them in layers in which transverse vibrational visualities are recreated in atonal symbols that converse with the revealed entities themselves and the hidden ones in him and in us.
His engravings ritualize mythopoetics that dance in our eyes. We can almost hear the chants that remind us of the graphic scratches of “Umbanda points” made on the ground to protect and anchor religious works. These are the same substrates and “poetic logos” that inspired a series of paintings by Rubem Valentim in the 1980s.
Umbanda is an eminently Brazilian religion. It is mestizo and a revealing synthesis of various religions or spiritual cultures of the world. In Eduardo Ver it finds its most perfect translation but not just to leave it in the history of Brazilian art. The traces of its importance and permanence shall mark a precious culture that has suffered for almost a century in a prejudiced, violent and ignorant way with the intent of erasing its noble and strong existence.
Eduardo Ver's meticulous technique of rare refinement in drawing and engraving wood, printing and revealing worlds beyond, leads us to contemplate and complete his work not only with a merely aesthetic look, for we need to let ourselves be carried away by the intensity and transcendent energy that vibrates and emanates from it.
This exhibition at Galeria Estação will give the artist, son of Ogum, not only the recognition he deserves. This orixá − who also governs, with Oxum, in this year 2023 − shall open paths with his phalanx of Exus so that we can honor one of the essential contemporary artists in Brazil, of those who from time to time visits us to magnify and illuminate moments of darkness.
Eduardo Ver reminds me of Gilberto Gil's song – listen! – “Um Banda Um.” It opens brightly to update imaginary terreiros within us. From a dance of bodies and souls related to art with harmony and beauty, to the celebration of Diversity and Uniqueness with which one loves and recreates Life.
Bené Fonteles
ON MARCH 8th GALERIA ESTAÇÃO KICKS OFF ITS ANNUAL EXHIBITION CALENDAR WITH “GEOMETRY AND THE SACRED”, BY EDUARDO VER
With text from the catalog signed by the visual artist, writer and curator Bené Fonteles, the show brings together 16 woodcuts created under the inspiration of religious symbolism, mainly those of African origin.
“Geometry and the Sacred”. This is the name of the exhibition that will open, on March 8th, the annual calendar of temporary exhibitions at Galeria Estação. This expo marks the entry of the artist Eduardo Ver into the roster of artists represented by the gallery. By bringing together 16 woodcuts, collectors and the public will be able to discover in this individual exhibition unique and unedited works. A meticulous work that Ver has been developing for more than two decades under the inspiration of religious symbolism, mainly Umbanda, which are sketched on paper and then carved in wood.
A work, it is worth mentioning, that aroused the interest of gallery owner Vilma Eid. She recalls that thanks to the insistence of Bené Fonteles, author of the text in the exhibition catalogue, and the artist Sérgio Lucena – whom Vilma calls Ver’s "godfathers" –, she began to pay attention to the woodcutter’s work. “I saw his work live, for the first time, in a group show named Modernismo desde aqui at Paço das Artes, in São Paulo, curated by Claudinei Roberto. The power of the bold, large-scale work got me! Symbols that immediately reminded me of dear Samico, but with a very own language developed by Ver”, says the owner of Galeria Estação.
In the text he wrote for the exhibition catalogue, “The extraordinary imaginary terreiros of Ver”, Fonteles assesses: “Rare creators dedicated to engraving in Brazil work with as much loyalty to a mythopoetic iconography as Eduardo Ver, two decades ago, with arduous dedication and rare craftsmanship”. For the visual artist, writer and curator, an engraving by Ver contains parallel, multiple universes with a force that is not only expressive for its aesthetics, but also for the energy that emanates from each vibrational field that composes and recomposes worlds.
Still according to Fonteles, the graphic strength of Ver's work does not come only from the sacred ground that he treads. “He involves us with narratives of his vast Cosmo vision of these imaginary terreiros, revealing and veiling worlds still so unknown in which Umbanda entities travel and incorporate the soul of the Brazilian land”, he says. “With his meticulous technique, his rare perfection in the way he draws and engraves wood and reveals worlds, he leads us to contemplate and complete his work not only with a merely aesthetic gaze, since we need to let ourselves be carried away by the intensity and transcendent energy that vibrates and emanates from it”, he points out.
A gift from the orixás
The opening of a solo show and to be represented by Galeria Estação have special connotations for Ver. To him it means being able to show your work to a wider audience. “This exhibition is a gift to me from the orixás and also a way for me to give back everything they gave me. I feel privileged and happy in the face of this responsibility at this time of my work and a lot of joy, ” he says.
Regarding the name of the exhibition, he explains that geometry and the sacred intertwine and permeate each other to materialize, in his woodcuts, the mystic and the universal present not only in religions of African origin, but also in others. In his compositions Ver also resorts to plants, animals and figures of Catholic saints, in addition to allegorical objects. In its sacred geometry, other symbols can be identified that allude both to the native peoples of Brazil and to Sufism, the mystical religion of Islam, such as arabesques, for example. The artist attributes an elegant palette of colors to this diverse cultural inventory, inspired by exercises in observing the plants he finds in nature and in the flower shops close to his residence, in the East of the city of São Paulo.
As for the technique used, Ver applies several layers of printing on the paper. For each woodcut he produces several matrices, which are superimposed until reaching a certain degree of three-dimensionality. According to the artist, the objective is to give rhythm to the works, making all the elements coexist in harmony, in a true state of fraternization.
The public can see the exhibition “Geometry and the Sacred” until May 13.
BOUT EDUARDO VER
Born in 1979, in São Paulo, the city where he lives and works, Eduardo Ver – artistic name of Valter Eduardo Flávio da Silva – already practiced drawing as a playful tool to connect with other stories. His interest in woodcuts, his main research focus, stemmed from his experience at the Cruzeiro do Sul University, where he graduated in Visual Arts in 2006. It was also during his academic period that he arrived at Atelier Piratininga, where he remained for more than seven years, until 2012. Under the guidance of the engraving artist Ernesto Bonato, he perfected himself in the technique and production of engraving, finding the practice that would guide him as an artist. In almost 20 years of production Ver has developed a very original conceptual cadence and a refined technical rigor, acquired from his experience with graphic projects. From his studio, which he calls “Gráfica talhando em silêncio” (“Grafica working silently”), for example, illustrations for various publications, such cordel books, and posters come out. In his trajectory, between 2009 and 2022, his work was present in numerous salons and exhibitions held in several cities in São Paulo, in addition to international events in Argentina, France, Slovakia and Cuba, for example.
ABOUT GALERIA ESTAÇÃO
With a collection among the pioneers and most important in the country, Galeria Estação was inaugurated at the end of 2004 by Vilma Eid and Roberto Eid Philipp and has established itself for revealing and promoting the production of non-classical Brazilian art. Its performance was decisive for the inclusion of this language in the contemporary artistic circuit by editing publications and holding individual and group exhibitions under the gaze of the main curators and critics in the country. The roster, which began to occupy space in the specialized media, has also been conquering the international scene by participating in the exhibitions “Histoire de Voir”, at the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain (France), in 2012, and in the Bienal “Between Two Seas – São Paulo | Valencia”, in Spain, in 2007, among others. Emblematic of this international performance was the individual exhibition “Veio – Cícero Alves dos Santos”, in Venice, parallel to the Biennial in 2013. In Brazil, in addition to individual exhibitions and participating in prestigious collective the gallery's artists have their works in the collections of important Brazilian collectors and institutions of great prestige and recognition, such as the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, the Museu Afro Brasil (São Paulo), the Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras (São Paulo), Instituto Itaú Cultural (São Paulo), Sesc São Paulo, MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and MAR, in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
(SERVICE)
Geometry and the Sacred
When: opening on 3/8 (Wednesday), from 6 to 9PM; on view until 5/13
Where: Galeria Estação | Rua Ferreira Araújo, 625 – Pinheiros
Gallery opening hours: Monday to Friday, 11AM to 7PM
Saturdays, from 11AM to 3 PM;
Closed on Sundays
Phone: 55.11 3813-7253
Email: contato@galeriaestacao.com.br
Website: www.galeriaestacao.com.br
Instagram: @galeriaestacao
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