TAGS

artista, leya-mira-brander, plano-de-leituras, gravura.

BIOGRAPHY

Leya Mira Brander was born in São Paulo, 1976. Lives in São Paulo 2008 Tudo que eu sei, Centro Universitário MariAntonia, São Paulo 2007 Casa Del Encuentro, Medellín, Colombia; Formalities, International Artists Studio Program in Sweden – IASPIS, Stockholm 2006 This is not a love song, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo; Próximo, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo 2005 O Retrato como Imagem do Mundo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM-SP.

INTERVIEW

Maria Lind: One of the things which intrigues me about your work is that you manage to revive a very old and somewhat “dusty” technique – copper etchings – and you make it feel new and fresh. I certainly have not seen other work around which resembles yours, particularly not in biennials. Could you talk about the significance of the technique?

Leya Mira Brander: Printing is my fight against time. I am involved with etching from the processes of drawing on the plate until the printing, firing, waxing, oxidation and the everyday work of a printmaker. I like to draw on the copper plate, and I like to see the relief of the drawing printed. A new print is always a surprise. The proofs are unique and what interests me the most is the possible relations amongst the images. I have plates produced since 1997 that I keep printing and relating with recent images. I believe in a kind of power of the images. It is as if an image has the power to transform another image, by its proximity. They are like words in a conversation. Like notes on a music sheet. I feel like I am in search of something that I don’t even know, something I have never experienced. In a time where relations normally happen in other ways, maybe just like images of possible dreams.

Maria Lind: Another characteristic of your work is precisely how you use your own “archive” of plates, constantly recycling images in new arrangements. The structure is not unlike comic strips or pictures on a bulletin board, or perhaps on the door of someone’s refrigerator. Where do the motifs of your images come from and how do you think about their combination?

Leya Mira Brander: The motifs of my images come from different places. I like to draw what I see and I like to draw what I would like to see. It is difficult to say where exactly they come from, but it is always something that interests me at the moment. For instance, I like to draw the anatomy of human beings, I like geometry, I like to draw objects, portraits and self-portraits, landscapes, I like to write poems and I can mix everything, as well. The written word is very important to me. Sometimes I think the images come from places which words cannot reach.

Maria Lind: You have a history of experimenting with the display of your prints; for example in clusters on walls, on shelves and in little handmade booklets which sometimes include the plates themselves. What will you show in the 28th Bienal de São Paulo and how will the work be installed?

Leya Mira Brander: I will show prints produced since 1997 until now. The idea of combining prints arose in 1997, when I made a print with 77 different images. On 77 different plates. The plates were 3.5 cm ≈ 3.5 cm. The plan was to print them on a paper in the form of a periodic table. I will print a new periodic table for this Bienal. I am always thinking about those chemical elements and about the magic that happens when you put one beside another. A transformation takes place. So I decided to make my own periodic table, with my own elements. My first idea was to print them in many different configurations. I was fascinated by the fact that the possibilities for configuration are infinite. And it still fascinates me. So, I started to explore different sizes of the plates. At the Bienal my work will be installed on the third floor and it will be shown on tables with glass panels. There will be chairs to allow people to sit and watch the work. The space was conceived together with Gabriel Sierra, another artist participating in the Bienal.


Maria Lind is a curator, currently working as the director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College – Annandale-on-Hudson.

PROJECTS - 28TH SAO PAULO BIENAL

Projects with updated content