NEW YORK, NY.- Miyako Yoshinaga presents its 5th solo exhibition of Cleverson Oliveira, the Brazilian contemporary artist. The exhibition, Rainy Days, will be on view from November 30, 2017, to January 6, 2018. On November 18, 2017, Oliveira released a new publication in conjunction with his exhibit, Beyond the Surface, on view at the Museo Oscar Neimeyer in Brazil.
Rainy Days explores the line between reality and illusion. At first glance, the works appear to be monochromatic photographs of rain, but a second look reveals them to be drawings filled with subtle intricacies. The exhibit challenges traditional representations of nature by using Oliveira’s memories, inventiveness, and imaginary landscapes that give the impression of reality.
Raindrops trail across the series of images. They pour down the front of drawings, blurring out the world behind them. Other pieces exist in a dream-like landscape with up close, shadowy plant life curving across the page, as raindrops hug a border, not depicted. Graphite powder, pencil, and permanent marker, on paper and canvas, are used to realize Cleverson’s imagined cityscapes and landscapes. The simplicity of the materials suits the playful innocence of the series.
The piece Empire, in particular, demonstrates this by showing a drawing of the Empire State Building with raindrops drawn overtop the entire image. The building is modeled off of its appearance in an Andy Warhol film by the same name. Oliveira combines the whimsical impressions of raindrops with a process he describes as “the disfiguration of representation” in which he creates an image that appears to be studied from the natural world but is actually constructed in part from memory and imagination. The raindrops aid this tongue in cheek ode to landscapes by simultaneously being too close and cartoonish to be believed and also triggering memories of viewing rainy days through a window.
Cleverson Oliveira (born 1972, Brazil) studied sculpture at the Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná. He has solo exhibitions at Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná, Museu Joaquim Nabuco, Museu de Fotografia Solar do Barao, and has participated in a number of group exhibitions in the United States and Brazil. His work was also shown at Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Pãulo. Oliveira is represented in prominent collections internationally, including Ruth Kaufmann Collection, Sylvia Martins Collection, Brazil Foundation Art Collection, Fundação Cultural de Curitiba Collection, and Guita Soiffer Art Collection. Oliveira’s past solo exhibitions with Miyako Yoshinaga were “Galáxias” (2012), “Frontiers: A Journey through the Americas” (2006), “Golden Years” (2004), and “Cleverlandia” (2002). He currently lives and works in Curitiba, Brazil.
Oliveira has participated in various art exhibitions including venues in New York, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, and Doha and Venice, Italy. In 1996 he studied Art History at New York University, in New York, where he lived from 1996 to 2008.
