Page 61 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2003)

iMages inforMations
atôMiCo
2001, BRonze
0.50x0.40x2.40m

StilneSS in Motion

»
by

Paulo sergio duarte

before, there were large rubber shawls. flávia ribeiro’s shawls were like flat, oblong
beings, huge smooth pelts that seemed to have sensitive qualities. given the nature of
the material, they fell in an almost uniform manner, but allowed varying undulations
that were vaguely reminiscent of sculptured drapery: a sweet, serene bernini
mobile, with no baroque effusion. a few, subdued shapes in relief on the surface of
the rubber called for a closer look. When the observer drew back, he noticed the
slight tremor caused by the breeze blowing through the room. in this process, he
was captivated by those silent upright lakes that had seemed to make up a desert
landscape before the reliefs caught his eye. one could dream of being covered by
the landscape of flávia ribeiro’s shawls. However, prior to any flight of fancy, what
was at issue here was a limit-experience in sculpture, taking place on the borders
of ostensive planes countered by movements and undulations. in these sculptures iMages inforMations
Catenária
Flávia RiBeiRo visibility of an existence governed against the rigid world of dogma. 0.80x0.80x8.80m
the material functioned not only as a plastic element but also by substantivizing
2002, BRonze
issues - delicacy, flexibility, lightness, everything - as the materialization into pure

now the sculptures are cast in metal, some given a dark patina, others gilded. the
change of material is striking. nonetheless, something of the earlier organic universe
has been preserved: the manipulation of molds has left marks on the irregular surface
of the spheres. the artist does not aspire to the anonymous perfection of machines
or the utopia of ideal forms; her goal is to create entities marked by the passage of
being that has elevated them to the condition of works of art. and these marks could
never have been contained in the calculations of a project. they are the product of
the empirical struggle of trial and error, and they show plainly, in their finished form,
the experience that gave rise to them. each element shows this process, which is
potentiated when the works are articulated with one another.
iMages inforMations
the large sphere, throwing out a long, tense, rigid tentacle to the wall, reconfigures bíbola
space in its entirety. its presence is not contained in the limits of its body. it radiates 2002, BRonze
its plastic force all around, and acts as a kind of inductor of perception of the other 0.60x0.60x2.63m
pieces. its monumental scale does not have the effect of dwarfing the smaller works;
instead, it underscores their virtual possibilities. indeed, this seems to be one of
the most striking characteristics of these new works by flávia ribeiro: their ability
to claim virtual monumentality, whatever their actual size - a trait that could only
be the outcome of intelligent formal solutions.

World of art 59