Exhibition "Jairo e João: The theatre in the photography of Jairo Goldflus and João Caldas".

Artium Institute shows exhibition with photos of Marília Pêra, Miguel Falabella, Wagner Moura, Ingrid Guimarães, Reynaldo Gianecchini and more

Free exhibition brings together more than a hundred images of artists on stage such as Eva Wilma, Francisco Cuoco, Claudia Abreu, Leandra Leal, Vladimir Brichta, Juliana Paes, Fábio Assunção and Maria Fernanda Cândido

The Instituto Artium is hosting the exhibition Jairo e João: O teatro na fotografia de Jairo Goldflus e João Caldas sobre a Cena Teatral, bringing together photographs of the artistic trajectory of two leading figures of photography in drama. Curated by Rafael Gomes, the exhibition will be open until September 11th. Among the various actors and actresses photographed are Marília Pêra, Eva Wilma, Wagner Moura, Francisco Cuoco, Miguel Falabella, Claudia Abreu, Leandra Leal, Vladimir Brichta, Juliana Paes, Marília Gabriela, Fábio Assunção, Cleto Baccic, Ingrid Guimarães, Celso Frateschi, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Reynaldo Gianecchini, Gabriela Duarte and Arthur Berges.   

 Throughout their careers, Jairo and João have made decisive contributions to São Paulo theatre. Their photographs appear in countless play programs, promotional posters, journalistic publications, books and cultural collections throughout the country. Beyond their function of dissemination and documentation, João's and Jairo's photographs for theatre carry singular traits and present poetics of their own.

 Invited by the Instituto Artium for the exhibition to be conceived as a cutout of the theatrical narrative, Rafael Gomes, who is the exhibition's curator, comments: "By bringing together Jairo and João's photographs for the theatre, we highlight the aesthetic choices and unique look of each of them. Jairo's portraits - generally taken in studio - are marked by beauty, precision and formal rigor. João's extensive and solid photographic production tends to focus on the scene itself. They are stage photographs, snapshots of the shows, which combine the pulse and intensity of the theatrical performances with a rare sense of composition and technical mastery. 

 The idea of bringing the theatre director to curate the show was that the exhibition would go beyond the artistic value of the photos and incorporate a reflection on the experience of theatre in its dialogue with the public.

 "Besides, Jairo usually photographs the cast before the premiere, a magical moment when actresses and actors, already rehearsing the character, wear the costumes and incorporate the visage. The first view of the audience is the photographer. The actor is the opposite of naked, but taken by the character. Whereas João, most of the time, approaches the very instant in which the characters come to life before the public, throughout the season of the plays. These are different ways of creating photographic images from the theatre, produced at different moments in the life of a show. Both, however, seeking the beautiful paradox of capturing the uncapturable, since the theatre really only exists while it happens, "adds the curator. 

 The exhibition brings together 86 printed photos and 128 photos in videos of various shows, from Mademoseille Chanel, starring Marília Pêra, in 2004, to recent musical theatre productions, such as Charlie and the Fantastic Chocolate Factory, from 2021. Among the shows captured through the lens of Jairo and João that can be seen in the exhibition are, The Man of La Mancha and Annie, directed by Miguel Falabella; My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Evita, directed by Jorge Takla; The Lion King, directed by Julie Taymor; Escola do Rock, directed by Mariano Detry; Billy Elliot, directed by John Stefaniuk; Adultérios and Uma Vida no Teatro, directed by Alexandre Reinecke; Panor Mica Insana, directed by Bia Lessa; Let's Kiss and Say Goodbye, directed by Elisa Ohtake; Através de um Espelho, directed by Ulisses Cruz, among others. 

 The artists portrayed in the show are: Miguel Falabella, Juliana Paes, Wladimir Brichta, Negra Li, Wagner Moura, Christiane Torloni, Fábio Assunção, Marília Pera, Francisco Cuoco, Gabriela Duarte, Angelo Antonio, Débora Falabella, Cleto Baccic, Leandra Leal, Ingrid Guimarães, Artur Berges, Eva Wilma, Maria Luisa Mendonça, Rodrigo Pandolpho, Claudia Abreu, Carol Costa, Paula Capovilla, Maria Fernando Candido, Reinaldo Gianechini, Tuca Andrada, Igor Rickli, Claudia Neto, Tiago Barbosa, Amanda Acosta, Jonathas Faro, Celso Frateschi, Mel Lisboa, Marilia Gabriela, Lígia Cortez, Norival Rizzo, André Garolli, Lavínia Pannunzio, Renato Caldas, Ester Laccava, Flavio Tolezani, Eduardo Okamoto, Antonio Salvador and Carol Badra. The exhibition is part of Comgás' 150th anniversary celebrations.

 As a support for the photographs, the curator chose scenographic structures that evoke the theatrical experience. The renowned scenographer André Cortez, who signs the exhibition's expography, created different devices, which will occupy both the internal space and the garden of the Instituto Artium de Cultura. "Since this is an exhibition of theatre photographs, we have conceived ways of viewing these images that rescue some aspects of the scenic game and that invite viewers to a spatial and narrative fruition of the images," concludes Rafael Gomes.

 Jairo Goldflus 

Jairo Goldflus is 54 years old, graduated in Social Communication and has worked professionally with image since 1986. After an initial period documenting concerts (1987-1989), he started working in the publishing market, having worked for all the major print media in Brazil. Having worked for all the major print media in Brazil, he has his work recognized and requested for major advertising campaigns. Over the years he has specialised in directing people in photography, be they actors, musicians, models or common people. Maybe this is one of the differentials of his work: the search for excellence in directing people.

In 2012 he launched the portrait book Public, and in 2015 the nude book, Private. After the launch of Privado, he left for New York for a period of studies and search for new languages. In 2017 he released "You Arte Not Here", a book/documentary that portrays the daily life of underground users in New York City. Back in Brazil and with the exhibition "São Paulo out of time", in January 2019, at Itaú Cultural, he closed the commercial cycle and today is dedicated to processes with multidisciplinary content, merging images and texts for an integrated and documentary communication.

 João Caldas 

João Caldas is 64 years old, with a degree in Engineering from Faculdade Armando Álvares Penteado, and in Cinema from the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo. In 1981 he started photographing shows, discovering then his true vocation. The charm he feels for the theatrical mystery and dance has made him one of the most respected photographers of the scenic arts.

His photos of shows are regularly published in the programs of the shows, in newspapers, magazines of São Paulo, books and especially in social media. In 1980/81 he was the resident photographer in the production of the show Clara Crocodilo, which had its first season at Teatro Maria Della Costa in São Paulo. Between 1985 and 1987 he worked for the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo as a photo reporter and soon after set up his studio (Formato Estúdio) and started his commercial work, producing photos of products for catalogues, brochures, advertisements and press advisory in the business area. In 2012 he had his first individual exhibition of theatre photos in Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro and in January 2013 he launched his first book of photos: "Teatros", by Editora Terceiro Nome and produced by Giuliano Ricca.

In 2021, continued photographing theatrical performances and started working in recordings and live/online broadcasts of theatre in his studio and in external locations. In 2021, completed 40 years of regular work in Performing Arts documentation, especially in Theatre and, currently, continues photographing for numerous groups, actors, drama schools, producers and directors of theatre. 

 Rafael Gomes

Born in 1982 and graduated in Cinema, he acts as author and director of theatre and audiovisual. On stage, he debuted in the authorship and direction with the show "Music to slit your wrists" (2010), winner of the Paulista Association of Art Critics (APCA) award for Best Young Play. As playwright, he signed the plays "Edukators" (2013), version of the film by Hans Weingartner, directed by João Fonseca; "Maybe a love story" (2013), adaptation of the novel by the same name by Martin Page, directed by Vinicius Arneiro; and the children's musicals "Mas por quê - a história de Elvis" (2015 - APCA Award for Best Children's Musical), based on the work of German Peter Schössow, and "Lá dentro tem coisa", in partnership with Adriana Falcão and Vinicius Calderoni, both directed by Renato Linhares. Recently, he worked in the dramaturgy of the solo "Eu de você", by Denise Fraga, with direction by Luiz Villaça. In his own company, Emporio de Teatro Sortido, he directed and adapted "O convidado surpresa" (2014), from the novel of the same name by Grégoire Bouillier; he directed "Gotas d'água sobre pedras escaldantes" (2014), by Rainer W. Fassbinder, among others.

In the audiovisual field, Rafael wrote and directed three fiction feature films ("45 days without you", "Music to die of love" and "My album of loves"), he scripted more than 90 episodes of series in different formats. In the project Pocket Music, he filmed more than 300 videos with live performances of artists such as Pato Fu, Marcelo Camelo, Zelia Duncan and Vanessa da Mata, among hundreds of others. He also directed video clips (Arnaldo Antunes) and DVDs ("5 a Seco ao vivo no Auditório Ibirapuera" and "Gal Costa - A Pele do Futuro").

 

About the Instituto Artium

A century-old palace on Rua Piauí, in the Higienópolis neighbourhood, listed by Conpresp (Conselho Municipal de Preservação do Patrimônio Histórico, Cultural e Ambiental da Cidade de São Paulo) and recognised as a historical heritage site; 1700m² of eclectic architecture, built in the modernised Louis XVI style: this is the Instituto Artium, a cultural space in the city of São Paulo open to visitors since August 2021.

The property was built to be the residence of the first consul of Sweden in São Paulo in 1921, passed through two of the great São Paulo coffee baron families and was owned by the Empire of Japan for 67 years (from 1940 to 2007). The residence was closed during World War II and in 1970, as a testimony to the history of Brazil at the time, the Consul General of Japan was kidnapped while arriving there.

Degraded since 1980, the space was taken over by the Artium Institute in 2019, which one of the missions was to execute a thorough restoration work aimed at maintaining and recovering the historical heritage of Palacete Stahl, revitalising gardens, strongly marked by Japanese culture, its façade, in French style, and recovering ornamental and decorative elements of the architecture of the time of its construction. The non-profit cultural entity also carries out an activity plan that brings together projects in the areas of preservation of intangible heritage, preservation of material heritage, visual arts and performing arts.

 About Comgás

Comgás has over 19,000 kilometres of piped natural gas distribution network in 92 municipalities, supplying the industrial, commercial, residential, and automotive segments, as well as making cogeneration projects feasible and providing gas for thermo-generation plants. With uninterrupted supply and 24h service, the company serves over 2.1 million customers in its concession area in the State of São Paulo: the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, the Administrative Region of Campinas, Baixada Santista and Vale do Paraíba.

 

Presented by: Ministry of Tourism and Comgás

Organization: Artium Institute of Culture, Special Secretariat of Culture, Federal Government.

Exhibition fact sheet

Artists: Jairo Goldflus and João Caldas

Curator: Rafael Gomes 

Artium Institute fact sheet

Chairman: Carlos A. Cavalcanti

General Manager: Vinícius Munhoz

Visual Arts Directors: Graziela Martine and Patrícia Amorim de Souza

Technical Director: Caio Malfatti

Project Coordinator: Victor Delboni

 

Service

Artium Institute

Address: Rua Piauí, 874 - Higienópolis, São Paulo - SP - Brazil - 01241-000

Exhibition period: From 1 June to 11 September 2022

Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday, from 12h to 18h; Saturday and Sunday, from 10h to 18h.

Free entry

Online booking at https://artium.byinti.com