Tarsila! Descobrindo a mãe da arte brasileira em MOMA

Umas crianças dos 7 a 9 anos, obviamente parte de uma turma escolar, se sentaram no chão em frente do quadro “Composição (Figura Só)” da grande artista brasileira, Tarsila do Amaral. Sua professora lhes dava instruções sobre o que fazer com seus cadernos de desenho. Que lindo ver aqueles meninos tendo uma aula de arte no MOMA! (Museum of Modern Art, NYC)

 

 

Dentro das salas lotadas, não somente circulavam alunos de todas as idades, mas também, idosos, adultos, brasileiros, americanos dos Estados Unidos, e turistas de vários países. A obra da artista brasileira, Tarsila, finalmente chegou ao MOMA de Nova Iorque!

Eu vi algumas das peças dela em São Paulo em 2014. Gostei muito dos museus de São Paulo, MASP e as Pinotecas. Eu fui em uma quarta-feira, no 28 de março de 2018, para vivienciá-la em Nova Iorque. O MOMA e o Chicago Art Institute colaboraram para fazer esta iniciativa. Especificamente, Luis Pérez-Oramas e Stephanie D’Alessandro prepararam e organizaram a exposição, com ajuda de Karen Grimson.

O que mais gostei desta exposicão foi a oportunidade de ver a sua obra original na minha frente e ao mesmo tempo reviver meus momentos no Brasil. Cada quadro de Tarsila invoca um aspeto da cultura brasileira, e inspira a saudade. E isso o que ela queria, porque quando estava fora do Brasil, começou a sentir-se ainda mais brasileira e disse:

Uma coisa que não entendo (e não gosto) de alguns museus, é o monolinguismo. E não é só MOMA que faz isso. Para esta mostra de arte, todas as inscrições (menos os títulos das obras) e a áudio-guia foram apresentadas em inglês. Claro, este evento se destina ao público estadunidense, mas na minha opinião, deve ser bilingue–em português e inglês. Existem certas coisas que resistem a tradução e é ilucinante ter o original no lugar para referência, e uma explicação em português (ou a língua do artista). Na áudia-guia que eu segui em inglês, tinha um erro com a pronúncia de “Sono” (disse “sonho” que significa “dream” em inglês) que realmente confundaria todo o significado da obra “O Sono” de Tarsila. Outra vantagem do bilinguismo é que acolhe a mais pessoas. Uma apresentação bilingue daria o “bem-vindo” aos lusofalantes a uma exposição de muita importância para o Brasil e o mundo lusófono.

Porém, é uma crítica menor. Adorei reparar sua obra desde os desenhos de lápiz e tinta em papel até os grandes quadros à óleo, pelos quais ganhou sua fama no Brasil e no exterior.

Não vou fazer uma crítica “objetiva” ou escrever um texto pseudo-acadêmico sobre Tarsila no MOMA. Já publicaram a guia que todos podem comprar na livraria. Também podem assistir à entrevista com Caetano Veloso que fizeram no museu, sobre a arte de Tarsila e o tropicalismo em youtube.com, ou até podem fazer uma busca de Google para os artigos escritos por expertos famosos de arte. Prefiro oferecer algumas das minha reações e observações sobre meus quadros favoritos da exposição.

Primeiro, como artista, admirei muito que Tarsila assinasse seus quadros com apenas seu primeiro nome. Existe a ideia entre alguns artistas estadunidenses que um artista plástico “sério” tem que assinar sua obra com o sobrenome. Tarsila mostra que isso não é verdade.

Tarsila pintou temas brasileiros e iniciou, com seu esposo Oswald de Andrade, e outros artistas de todo tipo, o movimento antropófago e modernismo em São Paulo. Tarsila viajou para París para estudar arte, e também pelo Brasil para explorar temática autóctone. Ela desenhou e pintou animais, figuras humanas, “quase” humanas, a natureza, o campo e a cidade. Sobretudo em uma maneira não realista. Tinha influência de cubismo, surrealismo, futurismo e tudo que estava se fazendo naquela época–nas primeiras três décadas do século XX.

Nascida em 1886, em uma fazenda de São Paulo, capta a natureza de forma bruta na sua obra. “Cartão postal” de Tarsila tem os elementos de muitos postais típicos do Brasil–palmeiras, outras árvores, animais, casas, fruta, água e morros. É interesante sua mistura de plantas da caatinga com o rio/mar–como se este cartão postal representasse não só a familiar paisagem tropical, mas também a do interior, do sertão brasileiro.

“O sono” fica na minha cabeça, por seu surrealismo misturado com o elemento brasileiro–essa palmeira primitiva e essencial.

A última obra que se encontra antes de terminar e sair da sala é “Operários” de 1933. Aquí tem uma representação de tipos de brasileiros diferentes e as usinas urbanas.

Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil continua no MOMA até 3 de junho 2018.

A Tropical Dream: DanzAbierta’s “Malson”

Five dancers, 3 women and two men, relate on the stage and with projected videos. They are in the videos sometimes, walking up and down a staircase, sitting on the Malecón (pier) in La Habana, overlooking the sea, and fighting each other in a car. Sometimes the video projection is a scene from a busy street in La Habana, where Cubans rush shoulder to shoulder. These frantic images and the peaceful ones, watching the waves and the sky, juxtapose with the action on the stage as if in a dream. “Malson” is the name of an hour long dance piece by the Cuban modern dance company DanzAbierta. Malson is Catalán for nightmare, but also can have a double meaning in Spanish.  “Mal” is bad or evil, while “son” is a typical Cuban rhythm/musical genre.

DanzAbierta means “Open dance” in Spanish. This is a fitting name for the company, which was established in 1988, by Marianela Boán. From its inception DanzAbierta, considered itself “avant-garde” and within that context, infused different forms of art into its choreography. Malson was choreographed by Susana Pous, a dancer originally from Barcelona, who currently resides in Cuba. In a video clip, Pous explains that her style of choreography is based on improvisation and includes lots of input from the dancers. She will present a theme to the company and they will begin to create together. Therefore, the resulting dance is much more organic and related to each dancer’s body, style and personality:

Malson by DanzAbierta, was performed on March 22, 2018 and Friday March 23, 2018, in Philadelphia, and is part of a larger Cuban Arts Festival at the Annenberg Center Live. The Artistic Adviser and Designer for Malson is Guido Gali, and music and videos are by X Alfonso. General Adviser is Noel Bonilla-Chongo. The phenomenal dancers are: Mailyn Castillo, Lissett Gallego, Diana Collumbié, Gabriel Méndez y Marcel Méndez.

On stage the nimble dancers interact with each other and with a big moveable block. The women wear dresses in black or gray and high heels–note that this is not the contemporary dance of barefeet and leotards, typical of modern dancers in the United States. Much of the music is new and electronic/instrumental, but there are a few traditional Cuban songs with lyrics in Spanish. The movements of the dancers range from salsa steps to more lyrical choreography, as well as sharp and frenetic actions. They cover the entire stage and various levels–from rolling on the floor, to lifts and flips. The choreography is polished yet natural and appears to come from within the dancers, illustrating Pous’ explanation of a collaborative process that brings out the uniqueness of each dancer.   Sometimes the dancers are in couples. They also dance in unison or like robots/dolls to represent the struggles within the relationships.

What is most innovative to me is how the choreography relates to the video that is projected on the screen behind the dancers. The dancers seem to interact with themselves and the people and environment on the screen. This creates a tension between the video, dancers and audience. It is not just a pretty backdrop as used in some productions–it is an intrinsic para of the drama and the dance. It creates a visual experience that is interactive. One of my favorite instances was when the camera moved through a Havana street. It was as if the action was taking place in that very street and I was along for the ride. Most poignant and poetric were the scenes on the Malecón, overlooking the ocean.

Running time: 1 hour.

Malson by DanzAbierta goes next to Washington DC, on March 30, 2018. For more information check Susana Pous’ website or DanzAbierta’s Facebook page.  For upcoming events at the Annenberg Center Live in Philadelphia, visit their website.

Las Mujeres- Power Street Theater Company

I also reviewed this play, so I wanted to link it to my blog. This way readers can read both and perhaps get a discussion going.

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The Take Away 

• Every Latinx person in Philadelphia should be proud to know that our city is an artistic playground for plays like Las Mujeres
• Latinas deserve more opportunities to share their stories and the stories of the incredible womxn that came before them
• Power Street created a great sense of community

In My Pockets

I was first introduced to Power Street through Erlina, the playwright of Las Mujeres, while the two of us were working on a project together. I was really impressed with She Wores Those Shoes and Erlina’s voice as a playwright. As a Latino, I was particularly looking forward to seeing Latinx theatre, since, let’s be real, there ain’t that much in Philly no matter what these trendy “diversity panels” say.

Since I’m unloading my pockets, I also need to admit that I’m a bad Latino for not knowing Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz…

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“Las Mujeres:” A New Play by Erlina Ortiz

“Healing, Educated, Opening, Love, and Empowerment.” These were several of the words that audience members shouted out in the Talkback after Saturday’s powerful performance of Las Mujeres (The Women), produced by Power Street Theatre Company  (PSTC) in Philadelphia. Written by Erlina Ortiz, a Dominican-American, Las Mujeres, despite the Spanish title, is performed in English at the West Kensington Ministry in the Northeast part of the city. The show was sold out and most of the enthusiastic and appreciative audience stayed for the conversation afterwards.

To quote Ortiz, “Las Mujeres seeks to educate and inspire audiences by providing comedic and dramatic insight on the challenges women and Latinx people face when assimilating into traditional male dominated spaces.”  She has written a solid script that is clear and direct, with frequent humor. The characters include two contemporary women, as well as four icons: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, an intelligent and well-educated nun from Mexico’s colonial period, Frida Kahlo, Mexico’s most famous female visual artist, Rita Hayworth, (whose real name was Margarita Carmem Cansino, and was of Spanish and gitana descent) and Minerva Mirabal, who along with her sisters, fought against the oppressive dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

Photo by Corem Coreano

The cast includes Gabriela Sanchez (also the Founder and Managing Director of PSTC), Krystal Lizz Rosa, Diana Rodriguez, Anjoli Santiago, Marisol Custodio, and Lorenza Bernasconi. Tamanya M.M. Garza, director, created a tight ensemble that deftly interpreted the script. As Frida, Diana Rodriguez had many of the comic lines that inspired robust laughter. I particularly enjoyed the characterization of gentil Sor Juana (Anjoli Santiago) and the use of her poetry in the interaction. Lorenza Bernasconi, who has a sweet  and well projected voice, also sang as Rita Hayworth. Rounding out the women from the past, Marisol Custodio was a sober and strong Minerva Mirabal.  Krystal Lizz Rosa, (Lena) performs for the first time outside of Temple University, and she is a promising talent. The most difficult role was that of Marlene, played with conviction by Gabriela Sanchez. She experiences a range of emotions throughout the play and must relate to four dead women from different countries and centuries!

Power Street Theatre is working hard to bring the audience to the performance. In addition to offering discount tickets for industry, students, veterans, community residents and senior citizens, economical ticket prices ($10-25), audience members can take advantage of child care services while at the show by reserving 24 hours ahead of time! High school students 18 and under are admitted free! So there are no excuses… don’t miss this new evocative play about a latina’s experience.

Running time: Approximately one hour and 40 minutes, no intermission.

Las mujeres plays through March 17, 2018, performing at the West Kensington Ministry–2140 N Hancock St, Philadelphia, PA. For tickets, purchase them online.  Tickets are also available at the door an hour before showtime.