HILAL SAMI HILAL: NÓS OUTROS NÓS

Starting on March 21st, the Marilia Razuk gallery will present the “Nós Outros Nós” ["Us Others Us] exhibition, containing previously unseen works by Hilal Sami Hilal in oxidised copper and concrete, all made in 2012 and 2013. This exhibition, which will cover both of the gallery's areas, is intended by the artist to create a dialogue and tension between these two, so distinct materials: the ethereal, delicate and fragile copper, and the brute, solid mass that is concrete.

Research into copper corrosion using acids and salts, from which a variety of tones, forms and textures arise, began at the start of the artist's career, when he involved himself with metal engraving techniques. At the same time, his research also branched into concrete. His poetic beauty contains a crossing of modern Western tradition with ancient Islamic art, and these two series clearly represent the notion of the boundary between engraving and multiples.

Hilal, who hails from Espírito Santo and is a descendant of Syrian immigrants, elaborates the notion of tension through the shock between the materials, without losing the characteristic lightness of his works, recovered from a painstakingly patient process of repetitions while lost in daydreams, oblivious to the anxious ticking of the clock. In his production, emptiness is also construction. An emptiness that comes from absence, from loss and the lack of a space.

Hall 1 will contain the series Nomes [Names] and O passeio de Giacometi [Giacometi's Walk], comprising approximately ten oxidized copper plaques, each measuring 130 x 104 cm, at times displayed on their own, at others, in diptychs or polyptychs. Hall 2 holds the Novos Concretos [New Concretes] series, which displays approximately 500 pieces in concrete, each measuring 20 x 20 x 9 cm. This series is presented in a more playful way. Making the most of the freedom of the line, these elements will be arrayed such as to explore both the space's vertical and horizontal dimensions.

Hilal Sami Hilal (1952, Vitória, ES) began, in the 1970s, with drawing and watercolors, before deciding to delve deeply into Japanese paper making techniques. His "lacework", which first uses an exclusive material made from cellulose extracted from cotton rags and mixed with pigments, resin and iron and aluminum powder, before the addition of copper, are placed a short distance from the wall, with the resulting shadows creating virtual tracery. The artist was included in the Panorama of Brazilian Art show, at the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, in 1998. And, in 2007/08, a large collection of his work was exhibited at the Vale Museum in Espírito Santo, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff. In 2010, his individual exhibition, Atlas, was on show at the Lasar Segall Museum, in São Paulo.

"Nós Outros Nós" ["Us Others Us"]

Opening: 7pm, March 21st

Exhibition duration: March 22nd until April 27th

Opening hours: 10:30am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, and from 11am to 3pm on Saturdays