Artur Lescher
Metamericos
12 November – 30 December 2010
Opening:
Friday November 12, from 7 to 8:30 pm
529 West 20th Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
Tel 212 206 7990
Fax 212 206 8494
Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm
Josée Bienvenu Gallery is pleased to present Metamericos, Artur Lescher’s first solo exhibition in New York. Born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1962, where he lives and works, Artur Lescher emerged as a national figure on the Brazilian contemporary art scene with his first participation in the São Paulo Biennial in 1987. Artur Lescher is known for his sculptural works crossing the boundary between object and installation. His Rio-Maquina (Machine-River) recently shown in São Paolo, is a monumental structure, constructed from three tones of stainless-steel mesh, suspended by metal cylinders. In parallel with his installation, over the past two years Artur Lescher has been developing a new body of work titled Metamericos. Metamerico is the name given to the geometry of arthropods, whose bodies are composed of repeated segments. Made of wood planks connected by brass hinges, the Metamericos are modular and versatile, they can adopt various configurations and positions in space.
Constructivism and Suprematism (Malevich, Tallin…) are important references in Lescher’s work, as well as Brazilian Neo-Concrete artists (Sergio Camargo, Willis de Castro, Mira Schendel, Helio Oiticica…) whose work proposes a new approach towards the object and its relationship to the viewer and space.
The Metamericos are made of “Peroba do Campo” a type of Brazilian wood that was used to make floors and roofs in houses. The artist finds the reclaimed wood planks in demolition stores. Brass and stainless steel are then cast and highly polished to form custom hinges for each articulation. The artist articulates a kind of grammar between the elements at play. The sculptures contract and expand in their own space, generating a highly charged field of possible meanings. In creating a logical model for the construction of his pieces, similar to any language operation, Lescher’s works proposes the experience of material and sense contradiction. The Metamericos evoke the modulation of an insect speech, the possible fluidity of matter, the unfolding operation in which constructivism is based, or three-dimensional sentences on the blank page of the gallery space.
Artur Lescher began his career in the 1980s. He participated in the 19th and 25th São Paulo International Art Biennials (1987 and 2002), and the 5th Mercosur Biennial (2005). His sculptures and installations have been featured in Brazil’s major art institutions, such as: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), Salta, Argentina; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM); Instituto Cultural Itaú, São Paulo; Paço das Artes, São Paulo; Centro Cultural São Paulo; SESC Pompéia, São Paulo; Memorial da América Latina, São Paulo; Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro and others. He has also taken part in exhibitions in Germany, Spain, France, United States, Ecuador and Colombia.
