Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte presents, from November 30, “Estuaries”, a solo exhibition by the artist Isaura Pena. The exhibition, whose title refers to the geographic formation originated from the encounter between river and sea, deals with both the action of the water element and its use as a poetic tool.
Back in Brazil after a period at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, where she defended her doctoral thesis, Isaura allowed herself to revisit and dig deeper into subjects that have long been present in her trajectory. Scale and shape simultaneously differentiate and bring together a puddle and a pond, as well as a hydrographic map and the roots of a tree. In the body of work presented here, drawings made with nanquim, a water-based ink that has accompanied Isaura since the 1980s. This water with which she draws, applied according to the artist’s desire, is given freedom to travel and react to the different papers – rice, butter, vegetable – to which it is applied.
Isaura trusts the relationship she forges between the liquid and the surface because she draws without the desire to dominate, but in the hope of dialoguing with the object of her interest. The immersion in codes of a land that is not her own allowed the artist to have a new dialogue with what was familiar: drawing, representation, reality, impressions. The reference – the tree native to Brazil – becomes subversion. Highlighted, exposed and vibrant roots at the top; the canopy touches the floor.
Works and references that bear the mark of gigantism, physical or symbolic, reveal her awareness of the world and the possibilities of her design, which Isaura generously shares with us.