Stephen Friedman Gallery Nov 25, 2005 - Jan 14, 2006 New paintings & collages. The exhibition corresponds with Platform for Art & Tate Modern projects Stephen Friedman Gallery 25-28 Old Burlington Street London W1S 3AN Piccadilly Circus / Green Park t: +44 (0) 20 7494 1434 f: +44 (0) 20 7494 1431 e: info@stephenfriedman.com http://www.stephenfriedman.com/ Gallery opening times: Tuesday to Friday - 10am to 6pm Saturday - 11am to 5pm

Joá

An exhibition of new work by Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes

Milhazes’s paintings are saturated with colour and loaded with designs loosely derived from flora and fauna motifs. Her sources range from native Brazilian popular culture and baroque religious art of the Americas to geometric abstraction and Op Art. She occupies a unique position between Western and Latin American traditions.

Milhazes uses a technique similar to monotype or collage in her paintings where she builds up figurative elements gradually. Colour or ground is applied directly to the canvas with a brush while motifs are painted onto sheets of plastic which are later pressed onto the primed canvas, transferring the images. The accretion of paint results in a surface texture where some overlapping forms are fully present, while other earlier forms are partially obscured. The inherent imperfection of this process, in which images do not always transfer evenly or smoothly, simultaneously creates the impression of décollage and of images revealed when others are peeled away, in places exposing the under-drawing beneath.

Recently, Milhazes has reintroduced collage into her repertoire and is attracted to the shiny, glittery surface of modern-day confectionary packaging. She is particularly drawn to chocolate wrappings which she incorporates in her work. The size and texture of these products in part determines the composition of each collage. Furthermore, the ornate calligraphy of the text on the wrappers, visible in may different languages, adds another conceptual and linguistic dimension to her work.

Milhazes has titled her show at Stephen Friedman Gallery Joá, the name of a beach in Rio de Janeiro. The collages and paintings in the exhibition embrace her extensive artistic ancestry and allude to the tropical milieu of Brazil and the music and dance that epitomize the city and history of Rio de Janeiro.

Milhazes has exhibited widely all over the world. In 2004 Milhazes had a solo exhibition at Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. In the same year, Milhazes was commissioned to make a work for the façade of Selfridges Manchester Exchange Store. In 2003 Milhazes had a solo exhibition at Domaine de Kerguehennec-Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bignan, France. In the same year Milhazes represented Brazil in the Venice Biennale at the Brazilian pavilion. Recent group exhibitions include São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil in 2004 and 2002 and Urgent Painting, Musee d’Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris, Paris in 2002. This year, Milhazes was selected for a special commission at Tate Modern Restaurant which will be on view through 2007. She has also recently completed an ambitious project at Gloucester Road underground station which was commissioned by Platform for Art. The project will run until through May 2006.

Stephen Friedman Gallery will be participating in Art Basel Miami Beach from 1 - 4 December 2005, stand number B9.

Gallery hours are: Tuesday to Friday 10am–6pm and Saturday 11am–5pm
For further details please contact Kirsten Sampson on +44 20 7494 1434

- Platform for Art : Peace and Love, until 22 May 2006

Platform For Art: New Stuff Up At Gloucester Road Article & image by Londonist: a website about London Gloucester Road Tube. Who ever uses it? Hands up. OK, maybe a few students from Imperial and the occasional lost tourist. Well, surprisingly, 13 million souls pour through this station each year.

A sizeable and distracted chunk of that number will be folks like Londonist, who loiter on the platforms staring at the walls. That's because, for several years now, Gloucester Road has been the shining beacon of LU’s laudable Platform for Art initiative. The brick arches of a disused District/Circle line platform are periodically filled with international artwork, making everyone’s journey that bit brighter.

The latest offering is a series of 19 colourful panels called Peace and Love, two things the Tube needs more of, by Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes.

Beatriz Milhazes’ rich and complex work draws together motifs which have their roots in her everyday environment, and includes references to natural forms, folk art, carnival, and Brazilian baroque decoration. She transforms these influences into abstract patterns and ornamental shapes, which shift between the recognisable and the unfamiliar.
Beautiful. If you want to go along and take your own photos, remember to turn your flash off. We got a bit of a ticking off.

Oh, and you must have a play on TfL’s unbelievably entertaining Platform for Art Flash website. http://www.tfl.gov.uk

Peace and Love can be viewed (between incoming trains) until 22 May 2006.