Using an approach similar to that of a journalistic report, we selected three artists as examples of art’s transcendence, essential necessity and importance for helping us to overcome and understand difficult times like these, and always

Casa Roberto Marinho has always wanted to construct a collection of interviews with artists, historians, critics, administrators and gallerists. But in the everyday bustle of its two and one-half years of operations, taken up by the tasks required by shows, publications and guided visits, there has never been enough time for the production of interviews.

Now, however, during a time that was in a certain way stolen from us, there has arisen a situation of urgency, willingness and simplified conditions which allowed for the production of these 27 “House Talks,” available at Casa Roberto Marinho’s website and in the last room of the exhibition Enquanto. At some point in the conversations, the subject would inevitably turn to the tragedy of the ongoing pandemic. Far beyond their documentary value concerning art during a time of social isolation, these reports, gathered between March and June 2020, offer a look at each of the interviewees’ creative processes, which otherwise would have remained unseen within the walls of their studios.

Enquanto was organized during the COVID-19 lockdown. Using an approach similar to that of a journalistic report, we selected three artists – Carlos Vergara, Luiz Aquila and Roberto Magalhães – as examples of art’s transcendence, essential necessity and importance for helping us to overcome and understand difficult times like these, and always.

In the show by Carlos Vergara, the actual material of the tracks of the Santa Tereza trolleys and the artist’s own hand were combined in the making of a record of that place. In his series of “envelopes” he demonstrates how, even in isolation, one can continue to establish partnerships in a network consisting of highlights from various generations.

A series by Luiz Aquila, A Quarentela, deals with the loss and reintegration of the object – his favorite coffee cup – through the artistic memory of that which fleeted away. The show also features canvases and a simple paper “accordion,” a set of works articulated by drawings in pastel.

The year 2020 marks the celebration of the Roberto Magalhães’s 80th birthday. And, above the mountains and the clouds, in his studio in Visconde de Mauá, he presented us with instigating and surprising solutions in a completely new series. Artistic practice and solidarity are strengthened in this show that reopens Casa Roberto Marinho.

Lauro Cavalcanti
Director of Casa Roberto Marinho