Tropego Tropico, Brazilian Artist Rivane Neuenschwander's Black Paper Paintings at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Mayfair, London, 16 March - 14 April 2022

The Stephen Friedman Gallery is happy to offer 'Trôpego Trópico,' a new series of 10 paintings on black paper by Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander. Neuenschwander is influenced by the history of Latin American conceptualism and develops experimental works using delicate and modest material.

This exhibition is a component of a collection of work made in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, which continues Neuenschwander's long-running investigation of dread. The works depict anthropomorphic creatures entwined in an embrace of violence. In rhythmic sequences, reptiles, insect-like forms, and feminine bodies converge. Their vibrant colours and muscular shapes are influenced by seventeenth-century Japanese erotic woodcuts as well as Cordel folk literature, which is prominent in Brazil's Northeast area.

Neuenschwander examines the weaponization of fear as a technique of social control, drawing on a wealth of cultural references. The stylized creatures evoke colonial discovery myths, in which exoticized images of the tropics and purported ritual sacrifice were employed to legitimise empire. Rape references can conjure up images of the cruelty perpetrated by Portuguese colonisers against indigenous communities. This dialectic highlights Brazil's colonial heritage and the difficulties inherent in grappling with objectification and self-definition from a foreign vantage point.

Rivane Neuenschwander was born in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte in 1967. She is based in Sa Paulo, Brazil.

This exhibition will be followed by a solo survey exhibition of her work at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz in November 2021. 

Neuenschwander's video 'Quarta-Feira de Cinzas' is now on show at Tate Modern as part of the current collection exhibition.

Neuenschwander has exhibited widely, most recently at NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia (2018); 'Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida, USA (2018); Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2017); SPACE, Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas, USA (2016); Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London, England (2015); So Paulo Museum of Modern Art, So Paul

In 2010, she was the focus of a mid-career survey titled 'A Day Like Any Other,' which debuted at New York's New Museum. Neuenschwander's work is included in numerous international collections, including the Tate in London, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Vienna, Austria, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona in Spain, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Museu de Arte Moderna de So Paulo in Brazil Neuenschwander was awarded Korea's 6th Yanghyun Prize in 2013.