Ten views of the Roberto Marinho Collection

Casa Roberto Marinho is dedicated to exhibitions involving its collection in the visual arts field. In the six decades that it served as the residence of the late journalist Roberto Marinho, the house held manifestations of various fields of creation: theatrical plays, film screenings, and musical and literary presentations.

In keeping with this tradition, in this show, in 2022, the participants are not restricted only to visual artists. The invitation has been enlarged to include professionals from cinema, music, theater, design and architecture.

Ten leading lights of the Brazilian art world have organized the spaces with works from the institution’s collection, which in some cases dialogue with pieces from their own collections or which they themselves authored: Adriana Calcanhotto, Antonio Carlos da Fontoura, Fernanda Montenegro, Gabriela Machado, Glauco Campello, José Damasceno, Marcos Chaves, Paulinho da Viola, Victor Burton and Walter Carvalho. A magnificent group from our multiple and resilient culture was thus formed.

On the ground floor, the visitor can stroll among various pastimes, appreciating the sophisticatedly rough aesthetics from the arid backlands of Brazil’s Northeast, and watching and listening to content about contemporary painters. On the upstairs floor the visitors will be received by the prophetic allegory of the artwork Vai Passar [This Will Pass], they can contemplate the visual selections of a professional musician, appreciate the textures and scales of painting, experience the association of concepts among the works, and penetrate into the feminine universe of the section “Dangerous Drivers”; after the experience of the photographer’s outlook, the spectator will live the moment of the text and the eternity of the artist.

The exhibition’s title arose in the process of its making. In the initial selection for the “Free Time” section, organized by Victor Burton, there was a photograph by Hart Preston: taken at the 1942 Rio de Janeiro carnival, it is ambiguous because, even though festive, the word tristeza [sadness] stands out in it. So very Brazilian. Still so very…

Instead of tristeza, we write alegria [Joy]. The joy of living, the joy of creating.* “Mato” in oldtime slang meant “profuse.” So here, in the district of Cosme Velho, art is mato,** since there is a whole lot of it.

LAURO CAVALCANTI
2022

* the project Alegria de viver, alegria de criar [Joy of Living, Joy of Creating] was carried out by Mário Pedrosa and Lygia Pape, in 1977, for the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio
** here we note the pioneering use of the title Arte Aqui é Mato [There’s a Whole Lot of Art Here] in the important work by Aline Figueiredo about art from the state of Mato Grosso.