Paulo Pasta

Ariranha SP, 1959. Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.

Painter, engraver, draughtsman, Paulo Pasta is among the most important of his generation. He has participated in important collective exhibitions such as the 22nd Bienal de São Paulo, 3rd Bienal do Mercosul, 3rd Bienal de Cuenca, 3rd Arte Cidade, among others, in various countries. He has had over 25 individual shows and has been awarded prizes such as the Panorama Grand Prize of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. His work is in the collections of the Kunsthalle Berlin (Germany); Instituto Itaú Cultural, Pinacoteca do Estado, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, all in São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, among other private and public collections.

A PhD in Visual Arts from the University of São Paulo and winner of the Emile Eddé Visual Arts Scholarship from the USP Museum of Contemporary Art, Pasta took classes with Regina Silveira and Carmela Gross, and emerges from the Geração Oitenta with paintings that make him stand out among the many painters of the time. Influenced by artists of the early 19th century, such as Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, Pasta also has Jasper Johns' pop as one of his references. Since he began producing, the artist has worked with medium and large format canvases, in which investigations into colour, paint as a medium, and the two-dimensionality of painting are frequent. In his trajectory, he will go deeper into these investigations and, over the years, he seeks new references as a starting point for his painting. Among them can be mentioned metaphysics, architecture, geometry or the shape of objects.

As a professor, he taught painting at Faculdade Santa Marcelina, between 1987 and 1999; drawing at Mackenzie Presbyterian University, between 1995 and 2002; and painting at USP, in 2011 and 2012. He taught at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado from 1998 to 2012.

Among the recent exhibitions in which he has participated, highlights include solo shows at the Brazilian Embassy in Rome (Italy), 2016; at Galeria Millan and Anexo Millan (São Paulo), 2015; at SESC Belenzinho (São Paulo), 2014; at Fundação Iberê Camargo (Porto Alegre, RS), 2013; at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia (São Paulo), 2011; and at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), 2008; for the Panorama of Panoramas, at Museu de Arte Moderna (São Paulo), 2008; and for individual at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), 2006. 

In the words of Rodrigo Naves, "these canvases, in fact, move away the light identifications, the hasty recognitions. As with an object placed in water, we need to look at these forms differently. Instead of being guided only by their outlines, we must consider their contact with the environment and the alterations that these relations produce. Less rigid, they acquire a spongy aspect and an indefiniteness that makes them more generous to their surroundings".  

Por: Sala Rússia