Exhibition
Beatriz Milhazes - Stephen Friedman
This is the artist's fourth solo exhibition at the gallery and anticipates her forthcoming one-person show at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, in 2011.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1961, Milhazes came of age as an artist during a transitional moment in Brazilian art
following the collapse of the military dictatorship. The ‘Geração Oitenta' (the Eighties Generation) in Brazil
proclaimed a return to painting, vivid imagery and lush colour. Milhazes absorbed herself in this new tradition,
drawing from the rich, tropical landscape of her native surroundings to produce vibrantly coloured paintings,
collages and prints. The artist's formal references were not wholly introspect, however, with early twentieth
century European modernism playing an equally significant role. The artist cites three artists as the ‘centre of her interest': Matisse, Mondrian and Tarsila do Amaral. This unification of Western and Latin American influences inspired an entirely unique formal exploration, which cements Milhazes's position as one of the leading South American artists working today.
