Mundo Mágico

Mundo Mágico (magical world).is een hommage aan het tot de verbeelding sprekende programma van galerie Mendes Wood DM in Sao Paulo, getoond door de lens van twaalf van haar kunstenaars. Zij tonen een wereld waarin de werkelijkheid net een kleine twist krijgt, waardoor de beleving daarvan boven de directe waarneming uitstijgt en ‘magisch’ wordt. Een wereld met een ziel. Terugkerende thema’s zijn het landschap, identiteit, herinnering en mythologie, benaderd vanuit een persoonlijke, kritische en soms spirituele blik.  

A central role 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 and therefore never a factual record. Lorenzato is an 'artist's artist.' It was the gallery's artists who brought him to the attention of the directors. His work is exemplary of the sensitive kind of painting that characterizes the Mendes Wood DM program. 

“Twaalf kunstenaars creëren in Kunsthal KAdE een magische wereld waarin fantasie en engagement door elkaar lopen.” Trouw

Mendes Wood DM

KAdE maakte in 2016 de tentoonstelling Soft Power Arte BrasilThe exhibition showed the socio-economic context of Brazil during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro through the eyes of artists, a context that otherwise remained out of sight of the cameras of the sports spectacle during the event. The Mendes Wood DM artists Lucas Arruda, Paulo Nazareth, and Paulo Nimer Pjota were represented inSoft Power Arte Brasilartists who have since become household names on the international podium, while the gallery itself has also gained increasing prominence.  

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 | Vojtěch Kovařík, 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