FromRiototheworld

Although the financial and institutional center of the visual arts has its main space of reference and circulation in São Paulo – with galleries like Fortes Vilaça, Luisa Strina, Nara Roesler and Vermelho or institutions like the Bienal – it is in Rio de Janeiro that the country's most internationally prominent artists have their studios.

Image description: This is a photograph of a natural and architectural setting. On the left side, we see a dense forest with tall trees and green foliage. In the center, there is a modern structure with geometric shapes and white walls. On the right, a building with balconies and large windows is integrated into the vegetation. The ground is covered with low-lying plants and green shrubs. The spatial arrangement goes from background to foreground, with the forest in the background, the central building, and the garden in the foreground. The colors are predominantly green from the plants and white from the buildings.

From the 21st century onward, the relationship between the art of developing countries (or “peripheral” countries, as they came to be called) and the world's major centers changed substantially. The discourses on artistic production and its historical references as “national” or “Latin American” also underwent changes. After all, even though the circulation of the work of art is worldwide, the artist's local mark and their political-cultural perspective regarding their city, region, or country are not erased. Contemporary cities such as Rio are, increasingly, spaces where local situations are exercised between emptying out and intensifying in the face of the global demands of art and the new cultural subjects that emerge in this period. The local element becomes a critical component, a tool for broadening the universal, rather than a reductive ghetto of “purities” or folklore.

Image description: The image shows a studio with a large abstract painting hanging on the wall to the right. On the left, there is a staircase and an open door, revealing an interior space with furniture and objects. In front, there is a table with various art supplies, including brushes and tubes of paint. The floor is white ceramic tile, and the ceiling is made of wood with exposed beams.

In this context, the 2000s saw the international growth (whether commercially or artistically speaking) of a series of artists such as Beatriz Milhazes, Ernesto Neto, Adriana Varejão, and Luiz Zerbini. The growing circulation of this work made in Rio de Janeiro through exhibitions – both group and solo – is reinforced by retrospectives or landmark exhibitions of some of the great national names of the 20th century, whose studios and career paths are also linked to the city. This is the case of Cildo Meirelles, Ana Maria Maiolino, and Tunga.

Image description: This is a photograph of an interior space with an art installation. On the left side, we see a vertical structure with concrete columns. In the center, there is a large colorful sculpture, made of threads, which appears to be an abstract representation of an animal or plant. The color of the sculpture ranges from red to green, passing through yellow and blue. On the right, there are stone arches and a person walking. At the top, there is a hanging net of threads, adding different textures to the scene. The floor is made of light-colored bricks, and natural light enters through the windows behind the arches.

This scenario made the city a space of renewal in which new museums – such as the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), located in the heart of Praça Mauá – or new events – such as the Art Rio Fair – began to grow. Having the creative everyday life of these international artists in the city transforms Carioca artists into artists of the world, as is the case of Maxwell Alexandre, born in the community of Rocinha and now incorporated into the great international art centers.