Mundo Mágico

Mundo Mágico (magical world).is an homage to the imaginative program of gallery Mendes Wood DM in Sao Paulo, shown through the lens of twelve of its artists. They show a world in which reality is given just a little twist, allowing the experience of it to rise above direct perception and become ‘magical. A world with a soul. Recurring themes are landscape, identity, memory and mythology, approached from a personal, critical and sometimes spiritual perspective.  

A central place in the exhibition is reserved for Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato, a self-taught artist from Belo Horizonte, who lived from 1900 to 1995. His vision of the landscape is very specific: realistic, naive and suggestive at the same time, somewhat detached, which means it is never a factual registration. Lorenzato is an ‘artist-artist. It was the gallery artists who pointed him out to the gallery owners. His work exemplifies the delicate painting that predominates in Mendes Wood DM's program. 

Mendes Wood DM

In 2016, KAdE created the exhibitionSoft Power Arte Brasil. The exhibition showed the socioeconomic context of Brazil during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics through the eyes of artists, a context that remained out of view of the cameras of the marketing sports spectacle during the event. From Mendes Wood DM, Lucas Arruda, Paulo Nazareth and Paulo Nimer Pjota were inSoft Power Arte Brasil, artists who have since broken through internationally, while the gallery itself has also been gaining profile.  

Since 2016, Kunsthal KAdE has continued to follow Mendes Wood DM intensively. Although a commercial enterprise - like any gallery - the entire program feels like a coherently curated selection, like an ‘exhibition’ spread across the many disks of artist offerings, exhibition booths, gallery and museum presentations. In Mundo Mágico emerges the value of that program.  

Participating artists:

Lucas Arruda, 1983, BR | Julien Creuzet, 1986, FR | Sanam Khatibi, 1979, BE | Vojtech Kovarik, 1993, CZ | Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato, 1900-1995, BR | Paulo Nazareth, Old man from Nak Borun, BR | Paulo Nimer Pjota, 1988, BR | Rosana Paulino, 1967, BR | Solange Pessoa, 1961, BR | Marcos Siqueira, 1989, BR | Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, 1977, ES | Rubem Valentim, 1922-1991, BR