October 18 2004, Monday, 12pm-6pm (continues until October 30 2004, Saturday, 11am-4pm)
LAST FORTNIGHT TO SEE RIO DE JANEIRO-BORN ARTIST, MONICA MENKES’ EXHIBITION OF GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTS (ACRYLICS & MIXED MEDIA ON CANVASES) BEFORE EXHIBITION TRAVELS TO MAINLAND EUROPE
We recently
attended the opening of Brazilian Monica Menkes’ exhibition at Gallery
32, located beside the Brazilian Embassy in London. Qualified in
architecture and urbanism, Menkes was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1958,
but now lives in Brazil’s capital city, Brazilia. We met and talked to
her at the exhibition’s opening reception, last Thursday evening. She
told us this was not her first visit to London – she had been here some
twenty years earlier, and that her exhibition would soon be heading on
to other cities, in mainland Europe. So, what can you – and some our
fellow Europeans, enjoy? Well, some of the house images and bright
pastel colours used reminded us of several of Carey Burrows’ works,
which featured at her recent exhibition in Cork Street. But, whilst both
artists contain a lot of abstract imagery, Menkes’ concentrates more on
content within square and rectangular shapes, possibly a reflection on
her architectural thinking and training in urbanism. After climbing the
six small steps, on the inside of the gallery’s entrance, the first
picture you will see is an unnamed acrylic on canvas, painted last year
and measuring 90cm x 70cm. It is made up of ninety small amber, brown,
green, grey, red and silver squares – twenty-two of which contain drawn
images of a variety of implements. Entrance to the rest of the gallery
can be to the left or right of this solitary picture on the wall.
One of the
pictures on the wall to your right, is our favourite! It is the third
picture from the end, where the gallery’s cloakroom is situated. Whilst
it, too, is an unnamed acrylic on canvas, with the same dimensions, it
looks more like a traditional wall picture, thanks in part to having a
frame painted around it. Within the frame, against a bright background,
are two rows of either nine or ten amber, brown, green, grey, red and
silver painted, mainly-squarish forms. Alternatively - to your left,
after entering the gallery - you will see another of the artist’s
arrangements of painted squares and rectangles. It is the slightly
bigger (100cm x 80cm), untitled, mixed media on canvas, showing a single
row of six connected rectangles, each containing between two and six
smaller, darker rectangular or square shapes. Go along and discover
more.
MENU A: Free
E: (see website)
L: Gallery 32, 32 Green Street, London, W1
N: 020 7399 9282
T: Marble Arch (Central line)
W:
http://www.brazil.org.uk/
