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Paulo Nazareth: Melee
By Denise Colson
In May, The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA Miami) unveils “Melee,” the first solo U.S. museum exhibition for Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth, one of the most compelling emerging artists. The show spans Nazareth’s work across mediums, including monumental and ephemeral sculpture, photography, video, and installations. Drawing on his Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous heritages, this artist brings the histories of marginalized groups into focus in a show that is relevant to both the global and local Brazilian diaspora, while speaking to broad political conversations on issues of injustice and oppression. “Melee” was organized by artistic director Alex Gartenfeld, and curator Gean Moreno, and will be on view through October 6.
Paulo Nazareth, Untitled, from “Mi Imagen de Hombre Exótico” series, 2011. Photo printing on cotton paper. Courtesy the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo.
With “Melee,” Nazareth highlights overlooked historical figures of Latin America as well as explores ways to expand the conversation on cultural production. The exhibition features several new works, including new commission series created specifically for the exhibition. The first new series presents 49 bronze medals depicting marginalized figures in Latin America, including Indigenous leaders and guerilla fighters. Displayed atop 50 pedestals, with one left empty to signify a continuing history yet to be written, the medals unearth a new perspective on Latin America. The second series features 13 flags of utopian countries. That countries maintained social and political arrangements that managed to avoid the rigid polarizations of the Cold War. Alongside these two new bodies of work, Nazareth will show eleven newly-created portraits of Brazil’s embattled ex-president Lula- bringing focus to the recent Right turn in Brazilian politics.
Paulo Nazareth, Untitled, from “Cadernos de Africa” project, 2013. Photo printing on cotton paper. Courtesy the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo.
In addition to these monumental commissions, “Melee” features Nazareth’s recent work that examine areas in culture across the Americas where prejudices have emerged, from the consumer realm to the discrimination at public spaces. Works on view include four new additions to Nazareth’s existing “Genocide Products” series. They are the largest and most ambitious in this series to date. Visitors also encounter recent works exploring the long history of segregation in the Americas, particularly in relation to access to public institutions and resources. The drawings and photographs that comprise Blacks in Pools demonstrate how discriminatory practices have emerged around public swimming pools and other bodies of water. Additionally, the artist presents an installation that reprises his project The Red Inside (2018), which was first generated for Prospect New Orleans. Beginning in Louisiana and traveling all the way to Canada, the project involved the artist following the route of the Underground Railroad. Alongside this voyage, Nazareth cast concrete watermelons-sacred fruits in a number of African contexts-using water drawn from the Mississippi River as his material.
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“Paulo Nazareth, Old Hope,” installation view at Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo.
Paulo Nazareth (b. 1977, Governador Valadares, Brazil) lives in Belo Horizonte and works throughout the world. He has had solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Museu de Arte de São Paulo; and Tanzhaus NRW, Dusseldorf. He has participated in group exhibitions at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; and the New Museum, New York. He has participated in numerous biennials, including Prospect New Orleans, the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, and the Venice Biennale.
Paulo Nazareth, CA - genocide products- Planeta Criolo, 2018.
“Melee” opens on May 16th and is on view through October 6th. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami is located at 61 NE 41st Street, 33137 | www.icamiami.org.
Denise Colson is an art critic and historian based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
