Adventures of a Gringa

The Hottest Show in Town

Yesterday, I forcibly dragged Eli Eli and I headed over to the Museum of Modern Art to check out the new exhibit, a huge exposition by Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who lives in New York. Though the other current exhibit, a celebration of the sixtieth birthday of the museum, is OK, this exhibit blows out it of the water. The museum was filled to the brim with well-heeled Cariocas, preppy gay men, and artist types, which I imagine it will be for the next week or so.

Vik Muniz was born in 1961 and grew up in a working class family in Sao Paulo. He moved to New York in the 1980s, when he began his career. He is best known for creating works of art out of unusual materials, and then photographing them. This exhibit features photographs of many of his most popular series, which use sugar, pasta, peanut butter and jelly, ketchup, chocolate syrup, trash, diamonds, caviar, junk, magazine scraps, pigment, old computers, flowers, toy soldiers, plastic bugs, puzzle pieces, and cotton to create amazing original portraits, as well as replicas of famous paintings and photographs.

What I love about Vik, besides his evident social conscience, is his unbelievable creative genius, the ability to take something totally inane, like ketchup, and turn it into a work of art. He also takes things that are ugly and undesirable and makes them beautiful. I also loved to see his vision, a combination of Brazilian ingenuity and American pragmatism and perfectionism. Though many of his works feature American or European themes or images, his style is undeniably Brazilian, one of unique fusion. My favorite pieces, which absolutely bowled me over, were Medusa Marinara, Mona Lisa in PB & J, Elizabeth Taylor in Diamonds, and Monet's La Japonaise in pigment. Oddly, though, the piece that most affected me was two American flags made from flowers and plants: one, green and in full bloom, the other brown and decaying. Though I'm pretty sure this wasn't his intention, it reminded me of the transition the US is undergoing, moving from despair to hope, from decadence to prosperity.

My only complaint about the exhibit was the organization, which didn't allow for a smooth or clear viewing order. Eli's complaint was that one of the chocolate syrup pieces, a two-set replica of The Raft of the Medusa, was ordered incorrectly. The museum employees on hand insisted the photos were in the correct order, but he's determined they're backwards. It was one of the least clearly drawn pieces in the exhibit, so I couldn't really tell.

The exhibit runs through March 8th at MAM Rio, but you can still enjoy Vik's work even if you're not in Rio. He has exhibits currently running in New York and Japan, and the Rio exhibit is moving to Sao Paulo in March. You can check out tons of Vik's works on his website and read about his career. For more information on the exhibit, see the MAM site.

Brazil Design Week

Eli and I went to Brazil Design Week at the Museum of Modern Art recently. It was mainly a trade show for Brazil's top design firms, but there were lots of cool products to oogle, too.

 

My favorite product was remote-controlled hot tub, with a dozen different scent options.

I was also a fan of the many cool stools and chairs. Some even lit up.

 

 

But one of the coolest things wasn't on display; a pair of gauchas (girls from the south) brought their trusty mate cup and thermos in a special mate holder:

fountains of Minas

Colonial towns in Brazil are chock full of fountains, since that's how people got their water back in the day. Here are some of my favorites.

The Infamous Chicken

Minas Gerais is famous for its handicrafts, and one of the most popular figures, besides a fat, google-eyed priest, is the black and white google-eyed chicken. They're based on the real chickens, called galinhas d'Angola (Angolan hens) that wander around the countryside, that look like this:

We came across gagillions of these in the tourist trap stores, of every size and material you could imagine. We also came across this giant one at an artisan fair:

Everywhere we went, I wanted to buy the ridiculous chickens, but I finally settled on these little guys:

Rachel Insists: Sebastiao Salgado

Rio Gringa insists you check out Sebastiao Salgado, at his website or by googling around or even Wikipedia. I went out with my American photog friend today and we were rummaging around that bookstore I'm now obsessed with and we saw one of his books and she said he's one of the best photographers out there. In the world. So I was like ok, and then I checked out his stuff and OH my god. I wish I was this guy.

Sebastiao is Brazilian, (a mineiro to be exact) and got his master's in Economics in Sao Paulo, worked for the World Bank for awhile, and then decided, hey, I think I'll be a photographer. He has shot all over the world, mostly in the developing world, and focuses exclusively on social issues, including migration, war, urbanization, inequality, worker's rights, health, the environment, and local indigenous cultures. He is AMAZING.

Oh but you're just a crazy socialist, you say. Well, see for yourself. Here are some of his most famous works which you can also find on his website.

Kuwait, 1991

Zaire, 1994

Brazil, 1981

My last day of teaching of 2007

Today was my last day of teaching until 2008, and until at least February. In other news, it was 100 degrees today.

I found this article called Caipirinha Nights: An American in Rio. It's informative and very witty, though it is mildly embarrassing as the writer is THE typical American embarrassing tourist, but it's a good article.

Today while dazing off during a lesson, I noticed that the Pao de Acucar looks like a big ugly nose if you tilt your head. I also noticed that my student's 6 year-old son had written him two notes. One said: Voce e minha vida, and the other said "A minha eternidade depende de voce, te amo." Meaning: You are my life and "My eternity depends on you," respectively. Brazilians are such a terribly passionate people that even 6 year-olds are brimming over. Unless his teacher told him to write it, but I don't think so.

Today I wandered into the cultural center next to the building where I have a lot of my classes, which I'd been eyeing for ages. And I was very pleasantly surprised to find two lovely (and free) exhibits! I think they end at the end of the month but they certainly win a Rachel's Recommendation.

The two exhibits featured aspects of Brazilian "popular" culture, both the popular part and in the sense of the poor. Since the wealthy tend to have their own version of "high" culture, the exhibit tries to showcase and pay tribute to the poor's version of Brazil. It was hard to find, and there was a guy with a tarp laid over the stairs to go to the second part, and an electrician with all his crap IN the second exhibit. Oh Brazil.

The first was a collection of stunning and incredibly vivid photos of people from a poor community in Pernambuco, and they had free booklets with almost all of the photos from the exhibit! Even though they don't look as good on paper. The photos were irreverent and grotesque and odd but all of them were incredibly beautiful. My favorite was of a woman's abdomen, with a packet of cigarettes stuck in the bikini top and an elaborate belly button ring and a scar. It looks like a painting. I liked her photos not only because they were ridiculously crisp and stunning but because they tell it like it is.

The second exhibit was a collection of objects that honor Brazil's nationalism and the flag, with almost everything in yellow and green. I especially liked a weird map of Brazil with lots of random plastic objects stuck to it, including a big ENTER key. They also had some of Carmen Miranda's stuff, a costume, headdress, ridiculously gaudy platform shoes, and huge wooden bracelets. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was very cool to see all the different representations of a patria. The one representative of the exhibit asked me if I was there as a requirement for a class. I laughed.

I have mixed feelings about my last day. While I am sure my feelings of sheer joy will appear soon, right now I still feel dragged down, like I usually do after a long day of teaching. And when I heard that this new American guy is going to take my morning classes I felt vaguely...jealous. I have a big problem with jealousy, be it merited or not, which sometimes gets so bad I start to feel really bad about myself. But it was only a tweak, and I am sure going to start enjoying my free time! All I have left to do is update all my files, hand in my materials, and meet with my boss. But...no sweat, I don't think.

Rio's Museum of Fine Art: Not so Fine (but a few jems to be sure)

A few quick news items first.

The Brazilian government voted to throw out a key tax that helps fund social programs, but also is a burden on the poor. According to this article by BBC, it's not good news. Read more here.

The big news in Latin America is the formation of the Banco del Sur, a Chavez invention to form a "competitor" bank to the IMF and World Bank in South America. Brazil has signed on, along with Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. But it's barely made a blip on the news, and the only one I could find was a short story on Globo about how countries are already bickering after signing the agreement. You can read a much more thorough article on BBC.

And here's a sweet little picture/caption series on Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil's most famous architect who designed the city of Brasilia.

I'd like to set these two stories side by side.

If you recall, earlier this week, I saw a homeless lady camped out in a totally destroyed bus stop sitting on a pile of glass and a concrete barrier that had apparently gone through the glass. The very next day, the lady and all her belongings were gone, the broken panel had been replaced, and all of the glass had been cleaned up, and the only hint of the incident left was a few tiny shards of glass twinkling in the tiles.

I decided to go to the National Museum of Fine Arts, which was closed for strikes the last time I went. It turned out to be free because about 75% of the museum is under renovations, and only one gallery is open. There are sheets up everywhere and there's plastic wrapped over the statues, giving parts of the place a kind of creepy feel. It's such a shame, because the building is absolutely stunning, constructed in 1908.

This is an image of it before renovation. I asked how long it will take to renovate--they say at least a year. Therefore, this museum wins a half Rachel's Recommendation for now, and a full one in a year.

The only gallery currently open to the public is Brazilian Contemporary Art. Let me just say that wandering around this gallery made me so angry that people pay so little attention to Brazil, and to Brazilian culture (aside from say, Carnaval and bikinis), and that so few people realize the true richness and advanced level of culture here. I only saw this one gallery and was absolutely blown away. There were the usually blah abstract paintings, and the usual portraits, but there were some really incredible pieces. I loved some of the installations, like this weird sculpture with wavy designs with the colors of the Brazilian flag painted all over it, and a watering can suspended in mid-air by metal wires "pouring" onto rocks. There was this horse sculpture that looked like a jousting horse, with the head covering and a jousting stick, but the stick and head thing were illuminated--and the stick went through the horse's butt.

I also loved Hilal Sami Hilal's copper book of names, which was a couple dozen pages of names carved out of copper. It must have taken him forever. I also liked a homage to Picasso with pink swirls everywhere, named "O turista espanhol." And there was this super creepy piece, a ribbon in a frame, with etchings of incest, but in the style of a children's book.

The paintings though, were the best. I loved the scenes of Rio from the beginning of the century, of neighborhoods I know well, like Lapa and Urca and Santa Teresa. Some look different, with less buildings, but some are wonderfully the same.

And a lot of the more contemporary paintings share similar aspects of having round, smooth shapes in beautiful, bright, vivid colors, like a homage to a Brazilian woman's body and the natural beauty of Brazil. My two favorite of this type were "Cafe" by Candido Portinari and "Navio Negrero" by Di Cavalcanti.

Navio negrero is a three-panel mural, and is one of the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen in my life, in all the museums of New York and DC and London and Paris and Los Angeles and Madrid. It shows a scene of a slave ship arriving at a Brazilian port and the daily life of the townspeople. Though it is obviously a somber theme, he uses those smooth round shapes and the most amazingly vivid colors, making a tragic scene one of joy and beauty. I just sat and stared at it. It's such a little microcosm of Brazil. It's just stunning. And for the life of me I can't find an image online. So, you'll just have to come here and see it for yourself.