Laís Amaral
1993, São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro
Entre dormir e acordar, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
43 3/10 × 86 3/5 in
110 × 220 cm
43 3/10 × 86 3/5 in
110 × 220 cm
Laís Amaral's research on the effects of environmental collapse on contemporary society plays an integral role in her artwork. In recent years she has dedicated herself to observing how we relate to nature and the fragmentation that occurs when the human body is separated from its natural environment. For Amaral, the desertification of large portions of Brazil is a powerful metaphor for blanqueamiento, the “whitening” of its population, a project that has continued to affect the country’s social structures and its political, economic and cultural spheres. Water is a device of freedom that lies in opposition to the aridity of urban life in Brazil. The act of painting is a “leak”—a response to these desertifications, and a desire to “wet the ways of existing.” Finding pleasure in disobeying and contradicting the expectations of abstraction, her paintings create a sensitive language that deviates from a fixed linearity. Artist and craftswoman, Amaral incorporates a strong relationship to manual making with the addition of beads and other materials to her canvases, creating textures that become enmeshed with the build-ups, marks, and scrapes that make up the surfaces of her works.
Laís Amaral (b. 1993, São Gonçalo, Brazil) graduated from Universidade Federal Fluminense. Her work was included in the institutional exhibitions, Crônicas Cariocas at Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro, and Onde se espreitam vias somos aquelas que permeiam o abismo em busca das frestas with Ana Lira and Helen Salomão at Tomie Ohtake Institute in São Paulo. Her first solo exhibition, Vazante, was held at Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói in Rio de Janeiro. She has also participated in the group exhibitions Between Rivers, Waterfalls and the Deepest Sea. Open Roads at M+B, Los Angeles; Formation and Deformation at Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro; Vesicle at Espaço BREU, São Paulo; Encruzilhadas at Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro, Possible Agreements at Mendes Wood DM, Brussels and One Hundred Eighty-Six Billion Steps To the Sun at Clearing, New York. Her Fall 2022 exhibition at M+B will mark her solo show debut in North America. Amaral is the co-founder of the Trovoa group, a national women's collective in Brazil based on the tenet that artistic production arises from different contexts, and from processes uncoupled from academic or specialized training. Laís Amaral lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
Laís Amaral (b. 1993, São Gonçalo, Brazil) graduated from Universidade Federal Fluminense. Her work was included in the institutional exhibitions, Crônicas Cariocas at Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro, and Onde se espreitam vias somos aquelas que permeiam o abismo em busca das frestas with Ana Lira and Helen Salomão at Tomie Ohtake Institute in São Paulo. Her first solo exhibition, Vazante, was held at Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói in Rio de Janeiro. She has also participated in the group exhibitions Between Rivers, Waterfalls and the Deepest Sea. Open Roads at M+B, Los Angeles; Formation and Deformation at Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro; Vesicle at Espaço BREU, São Paulo; Encruzilhadas at Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro, Possible Agreements at Mendes Wood DM, Brussels and One Hundred Eighty-Six Billion Steps To the Sun at Clearing, New York. Her Fall 2022 exhibition at M+B will mark her solo show debut in North America. Amaral is the co-founder of the Trovoa group, a national women's collective in Brazil based on the tenet that artistic production arises from different contexts, and from processes uncoupled from academic or specialized training. Laís Amaral lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
UNTITLED, SÉRIE PARA NÃO ESQUECER DE CASA, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
67 x 60 in
170 x 150 cm
CV
2021
"Laboratório Zofir e o Saber Intergaláctico, Práticas Desobedientes" with Tarcísio Almeida.
2019
Trovoa Residency at Centro Municipal de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro.
2018
"Cenas Para outras linguagens" with Camilla Rocha at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
"Arte e espiritualidade - O caminhar como prática estética" at Centro Municipal de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro.
"Any direction out of the center - Qualquer direção fora do centro" at Escola de Artes Visuais Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
"Arte: Processos e Afetos" at Escola de Artes Visuais Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
2017-2021
Co-founded and facilitated the Trovoa group in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
2017
Graduated in Social Work from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
Solo Shows
2022: "Cimento e água" at M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA.
2020: "Bebendo água no Saara" at Anita Schwartz Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2019: "Vazante" at Fundação de Arte de Niterói, curated by Desirée Monjardim, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Group Shows
2022 - Um Defeito de Cor [A Defect of Color], curated by Ana Maria Goncalves, Marcelo Campos, and Amanda Bonan, Museum of Art of Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Abstrações [Abstractions], curated by Marcelo Campos and Pollyana Quintela, SESC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Despertar Inconsciente [Unconscious Awakening], curated by Carla Oliveira and Luiza de Luca, Casa Bicho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Lance, com curated by Carolina Lauriano and Guilherme Teixeira, Centro Cultural Sao Paulo (CCSP), São Paulo, Brazil.
2022 - Possible Agreements, curated by Thiago de Paula Souza, Hoa Gallery and Mendes Woods, Belgium.
2021
Onde se espreitam vias somos aquelas que permeiam o abismo em busca das frestas [Where We Peek Out, We Are the Ones That Permeate the Abyss in Search of Cracks] with Ana Lira and Helem Salomão. Curated by Prycila Gomes, Tomie Ohtake.
Crônicas Cariocas [Carioca Chronicles] curated by Conceição Evaristo, Luiz Antonio Simas, Marcelo Campos, and Amanda Bonan, Museum of Art of Rio (MAR)..
Between Rivers, Waterfalls and the Deepest Sea. Open Roads. Collective M+B Gallery Los Angeles and HOA Galeria, Los Angeles (USA).
2020
GINGA, HOA Galeria and ArtFizz (virtual show and auction), Brazil - United States (BR - USA). Crossings, Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
Travessias, Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
2019
Manjar: Para Habitar a liberdade, [Manjar: To Inhabit Freedom] curated by Keyna Eleison and Bernardo Mosqueira, Solar dos Abacaxis, Rio de Janeiro, 2019.
Si vienen por la manana…, Interior 2.1, [If They Come in the Morning…, inside 2.1] Guadalajara, México.
Uso da imagem [Use of Image] , by Keyna Eleison, Ateliê da Imagem, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dois a 80km [Two at 80km], curated by Guilherme Teixeira, Caixa Preta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2018 - 2019
Formação e Deformação [Formation and Deformation], curated by Keyna Eleison and Ulisses Carrinho.
2018
Cavalariças at Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
VESÍCULA, com curated by Igi Ayedun at Espaço Breu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Mostra Superfícies com a Exposição Encruzilhadas, [Superfícies Exhibition with Encruzilhadas], Galpão Bela Maré, Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
Arte e Espiritualidade: a caminhada como prática estética [Art and Spirituality: Walking as Aesthetic Practice] - Emergency Platform, Hélio Oiticica Municipal Center, Rio de Janeiro.
Pouso de Emergência - Caixa Preta [Emergency Landing - Caixa Preta], curated by Rafael BQueer and Vinicius Monte, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro.
Encruzilhadas, at Pence, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Quimeras -Collective Exhibition with Trovoa Atelier, curated by Jean Carlos, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
Bela Verão 2018 [Beautiful Summer 2018], Bela Maré Warehouse, Rio de Janeiro.
2017
Clackesdi, Ipanema House, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Pão na Chapa,Toasted Bread, Rio de Janeiro..
Carpintaria para Todos - [Carpentry for everyone], Carpintaria Gallery, with Capivara Collective, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Other experiences
2017 - 2021
Creator of Fio.
2018
Art Direction with Trovoa group for the music video "ok ok ok" by Gilberto Gil.
Invited artist for the II Reflection Group - Networks of Maré - Women of the World Festival, MAR, Rio de Janeiro.
Participation in field research in Quilombola and fishing territories of Sapê do Norte, ES.
Acrylic on canvas
67 x 60 in
170 x 150 cm
CV
Artist Residencies and Art-education programs
2021
"Laboratório Zofir e o Saber Intergaláctico, Práticas Desobedientes" with Tarcísio Almeida.
2019
Trovoa Residency at Centro Municipal de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro.
2018
"Cenas Para outras linguagens" with Camilla Rocha at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
"Arte e espiritualidade - O caminhar como prática estética" at Centro Municipal de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro.
"Any direction out of the center - Qualquer direção fora do centro" at Escola de Artes Visuais Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
"Arte: Processos e Afetos" at Escola de Artes Visuais Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
2017-2021
Co-founded and facilitated the Trovoa group in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
2017
Graduated in Social Work from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
Solo Shows
2022: "Cimento e água" at M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA.
2020: "Bebendo água no Saara" at Anita Schwartz Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2019: "Vazante" at Fundação de Arte de Niterói, curated by Desirée Monjardim, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Group Shows
2022 - Um Defeito de Cor [A Defect of Color], curated by Ana Maria Goncalves, Marcelo Campos, and Amanda Bonan, Museum of Art of Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Abstrações [Abstractions], curated by Marcelo Campos and Pollyana Quintela, SESC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Despertar Inconsciente [Unconscious Awakening], curated by Carla Oliveira and Luiza de Luca, Casa Bicho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2022 - Lance, com curated by Carolina Lauriano and Guilherme Teixeira, Centro Cultural Sao Paulo (CCSP), São Paulo, Brazil.
2022 - Possible Agreements, curated by Thiago de Paula Souza, Hoa Gallery and Mendes Woods, Belgium.
2021
Onde se espreitam vias somos aquelas que permeiam o abismo em busca das frestas [Where We Peek Out, We Are the Ones That Permeate the Abyss in Search of Cracks] with Ana Lira and Helem Salomão. Curated by Prycila Gomes, Tomie Ohtake.
Crônicas Cariocas [Carioca Chronicles] curated by Conceição Evaristo, Luiz Antonio Simas, Marcelo Campos, and Amanda Bonan, Museum of Art of Rio (MAR)..
Between Rivers, Waterfalls and the Deepest Sea. Open Roads. Collective M+B Gallery Los Angeles and HOA Galeria, Los Angeles (USA).
2020
GINGA, HOA Galeria and ArtFizz (virtual show and auction), Brazil - United States (BR - USA). Crossings, Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
Travessias, Galpão Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
2019
Manjar: Para Habitar a liberdade, [Manjar: To Inhabit Freedom] curated by Keyna Eleison and Bernardo Mosqueira, Solar dos Abacaxis, Rio de Janeiro, 2019.
Si vienen por la manana…, Interior 2.1, [If They Come in the Morning…, inside 2.1] Guadalajara, México.
Uso da imagem [Use of Image] , by Keyna Eleison, Ateliê da Imagem, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dois a 80km [Two at 80km], curated by Guilherme Teixeira, Caixa Preta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2018 - 2019
Formação e Deformação [Formation and Deformation], curated by Keyna Eleison and Ulisses Carrinho.
2018
Cavalariças at Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
VESÍCULA, com curated by Igi Ayedun at Espaço Breu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Mostra Superfícies com a Exposição Encruzilhadas, [Superfícies Exhibition with Encruzilhadas], Galpão Bela Maré, Maré, Rio de Janeiro.
Arte e Espiritualidade: a caminhada como prática estética [Art and Spirituality: Walking as Aesthetic Practice] - Emergency Platform, Hélio Oiticica Municipal Center, Rio de Janeiro.
Pouso de Emergência - Caixa Preta [Emergency Landing - Caixa Preta], curated by Rafael BQueer and Vinicius Monte, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro.
Encruzilhadas, at Pence, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Quimeras -Collective Exhibition with Trovoa Atelier, curated by Jean Carlos, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
Bela Verão 2018 [Beautiful Summer 2018], Bela Maré Warehouse, Rio de Janeiro.
2017
Clackesdi, Ipanema House, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Pão na Chapa,Toasted Bread, Rio de Janeiro..
Carpintaria para Todos - [Carpentry for everyone], Carpintaria Gallery, with Capivara Collective, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Other experiences
2017 - 2021
Creator of Fio.
2018
Art Direction with Trovoa group for the music video "ok ok ok" by Gilberto Gil.
Invited artist for the II Reflection Group - Networks of Maré - Women of the World Festival, MAR, Rio de Janeiro.
Participation in field research in Quilombola and fishing territories of Sapê do Norte, ES.
A saudade é mesmo uma prece de amor, 2021
Acrylic on canvas71 7/10 × 59 4/5 × 1 3/5 in
182 × 152 × 4 cm
WET HEAD (UNTITLED), 2021
acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
73 x 59 1/2 in
185.4 x 151.1 cm
acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
73 x 59 1/2 in
185.4 x 151.1 cm
Pavão que pousa na aroeira, o descanso do meu pai , 2021
Acrylic on canvas
57 0/86 × 31 4/96 × 1 3/5 in
145 × 80 × 4 cm
57 0/86 × 31 4/96 × 1 3/5 in
145 × 80 × 4 cm
Sem título (Série para não esquecer de casa), 2021
Acrylic on canvas
71 × 59 8/4 × 1 3/5 in
182 × 152 × 4 cm
71 × 59 8/4 × 1 3/5 in
182 × 152 × 4 cm
Cafuné, 2021
Acrylic on canvas59 1/10 × 35 2/5 in
150 × 90 cm
UNTITLED, SÉRIE PARA NÃO ESQUECER DE CASA, 2021
acrylic on canvas
67 x 53 in
170 x 135 cm
Untitled I, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
43 3/10 × 41 3/10 × 1 3/5 in
110 × 105 × 4 cm
43 3/10 × 41 3/10 × 1 3/5 in
110 × 105 × 4 cm
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
63 × 43 3/10 × 1 3/5 in
160 × 110 × 4 cm
63 × 43 3/10 × 1 3/5 in
160 × 110 × 4 cm