AnnexB in collaboration with Galeria Estação co-presents Santídio Pereira: Between Two Skies Curated by Tatiane Schilaro b[x] Gallery, 203 Harrison Place, 3rd floor, Brooklyn, NY Dates: March 8 - Apr 19, 2019 Opening reception: March 8, 2019 | 6-9pm After the opening reception, visits by appointment only. Please contact Larissa Ferreira at larissa@annexb.net
AnnexB in collaboration with Galeria Estação co-presents
Santídio Pereira: Between Two Skies
Curated by Tatiane Schilaro
The horizon is a sight often taken for granted. It is always there, and it will always be there, surrounding us, even if hidden behind layers of skyscrapers that proliferate in cities across the globe. Universal and stable: the line between the firmament and the ground keeps us together, maintain us ashore, inland, while life around may be chaotic, falling apart. If this stability protects us, what happens when two skies meet?
Working mostly in printmaking and large scales, Santidio Pereira mingles organic-like, nature-inspired elements with themes such as childhood memories or the urban culture of São Paulo, where he lives. The works in Between Two Skies, Pereira’s first solo show in New York, invite us to imagine the collapsing of the horizon, the multiplying of firmaments and grounds, as they become one.
In another series of works, bulbous plants, algae, fish, and hummingbirds appear in Pereira’s prints. These almost-abstractions burst in earthly and watery shades, as plants and animals get juxtaposed. His shapes, abstracted from nature, are similar to modernist artists’ cut-outs, but they do not remain loose or fragmented, they come together, entwined. Color plays a fundamental role in Pereira’s works: the artist balances serene and vibrant shades, creating unifying compositions that are at the same time comforting and energizing. The organic quality of these pieces is intensified by the wooden texture perceived on the prints.
The other four minimalist abstract Untitled works shown here suggest the possibility of inversion and permutation of the horizon line that grounds our experience of seeing a figurative painting, or overall, of being a vertical body in the world. Positive and negative spaces in three-part compositions, transform, moving up and down the work’s surface, until they coalesce, intersect. It is this character of entirety in Pereira’s works that binds them together: a desire for making the world full, and whole.
Santidio Pereira was born in Curral Comprido (Piauí) and lives and works in São Paulo. With the incentive of his mother, Pereira has, since his childhood, studied printmaking at the Instituto Acaia which offers art lessons to youth living in favelas in Sao Paulo. Today, Pereira’s work has been receiving quick recognition. He had his first solo exhibition in 2016 at Galeria Estação, which represents him, and is AnnexB’s partner to support his residency. His works have been recently shown at SESC 24 de Maio, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, SESC Santo Amaro, SP Arte 2017, Centro Cultural São Paulo, and PINTA Miami 2018.
