“The translucent matter of the image”
The translucent matter of the image
(SKU. 14393)
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Date
2025 -
Technique
backlight, silk satin and chiffon -
Dimensions
(H x W x D) 53 x 85 x 10 cm -
Edition
5 + 3PA -
Comes with certificate of authenticity
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In Mariana Palma's work, the image vibrates between layers, transcending what is seen. Using a light box as a support, two fabrics — satin and chiffon — are juxtaposed, creating optical fusions. Transparency, already present in her pictorial and photographic research, gains three-dimensionality, establishing a sensorial game where light passes through, refracts and transforms the scene into an unstable visual organism.
The composition evokes a contemporary still life, bringing together fragments such as dried plants, shells, ice, fabrics and crustaceans. When these elements merge with the light, they create a microcosm that oscillates between the real and the ghostly. The light box acts as an altar for the image, which never completely settles, depending on the position of the observer and the lighting. In this way, Mariana Palma intensifies her investigation into the construction of the image as an optical phenomenon, where transparency and superposition trigger a dynamic and enigmatic visual space.
Biography
Mariana Palma
Mariana Palma's work is primarily manifested in paintings, watercolors, and photographs, in which colors and images of nature are explored in different formats and technical solutions. In her paintings, which can reach large dimensions, the entire surface of the canvas is covered with color patterns obtained through the marbling technique, resulting in complex chromatic patterns. Compositions are then created on top of these patterns using disparate elements such as tiles, drains, plants, flowers, and fabrics. Combining precise rhythmic composition with a dramatic quality reminiscent of Baroque painting, Palma's images sometimes make the folds and veins between petals and planes indistinguishable, and at other times blur elementary assumptions of painting, such as figure and ground, distinctions between planes, and the notions of landscape and portrait. Reflections on temporality and vitality also gain prominence in her watercolors, photographs, and works on fabric, in which the artist explores the connection between different organic elements.
She has held several solo exhibitions, including "Under The Pink Ipe", curated by Julia Rajacic, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Tierra Gazón, Uruguay (2025); "The Vanity of the Caged Bird", Vistamare, Milan, Italy (2024); "The Invention of the Image", text by André Torres Vechi, Galeria Cerrado, Brasília, Brazil (2024); "Never the Same, Twice", curated by Julia Rajacic, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy (2024); "Painting as a Verb", curated by Ivo Mesquita, Galeria Millan, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); "Inner Lake", curated by Wagner Nardy, Teatro Municipal Casa da Ópera, Ouro Preto, Brazil (2022); "Just Like the Gardens…", curated by Wagner Nardy, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2021); "Mariana Palma #aflordapalma", Carbono Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); and "Lumina", curated by Priscyla Gomes, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2020).
Among her recent participations in group exhibitions are: "Latinoamérica", Fundación Canaria para el Desarrollo de la Pintura, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2023); "Elas: de musas a autoras", curated by Denise Mattar, Espaço Cultural Unifor, Fortaleza, Brazil (2023); "MON sem paredes – Artistas conquistam o jardim do MON", curated by Marc Pottier, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil (2023); "Tramas e Tessituras", Galeria Simões de Assis, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); "Afinidades II – Elas", curated by Marc Pottier, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil (2022); "Arte Natureza", curated by Ana Carolina Ralston, Pavilhão da Bienal, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); "Afinidades", curated by Marc Pottier, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil (2021); "50 Duets – 50 Years of the Edson Queiroz Foundation", curated by Denise Mattar, Unifor Cultural Space, Fortaleza, Brazil (2021) and "Studiolo XXI – Drawing and Affinities", curated by Fátima Lambert, Art and Culture Center of the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation, Évora, Portugal (2019).
His work is in institutional collections such as the Rio Art Museum – MAR, Brazil; the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Brazil; the Itaú Cultural Institute, Brazil; the Institute of Contemporary Art, United States; the Edson Queiroz Foundation, Brazil; the Ribeirão Preto Art Museum, Brazil; the Campinas Museum of Contemporary Art, Brazil; and the Santo André Municipal Art Gallery, Brazil.
Representative galleries
Almeida & Dale Gallery , São Paulo
Destaques da carreira
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Lumina | 2020 | Instituto Tomie Ohtake, SP | foto: Filipe Berndt
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Soma | 2017 | Casa Triângulo, SP | foto: Filipe Berndt
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Deságue | 2012 | Casa Triângulo, SP | foto: Edouard Fraipont
