The Yale School of Art presents an exhibition of some thirty paintings made by the Italian artist c between 2006 and 2008, over the course of several extended trips to Brazil. On view April 1–June 2, 2013.
Father, 2006-2007. Oil on canvas. Collection of the artist. Photograph by Beth Phillips.
These are drawn from a large body of work from this period—both oils on canvas and large-format watercolors—in which Clemente explored images and themes that had been central to his art for many years, as well as ideas and iconography indigenous to Brazil. The exhibition, titled Clemente > Brazil > Yale, is organized by Robert Storr, Dean of the Yale School of Art.
In discussing the paintings, Mr. Storr states, “Emblems of everyday life blend with those of traditional Catholicism and fuse in Clemente’s work, as that faith does in Brazilian culture. Signs and symbols draw from the Afro-Brazilian heritage of Candomble, like Voodoo, a variant of Yoruba animism that was brought to the Americas by slaves. (Roughly 35% of all Africans brought to the Western Hemisphere in bondage were delivered to Brazil, which, in 1888, was the last nation engaged in the trans- Atlantic slave trade to abolish involuntary servitude.) Here, as in Clemente’s other work linking Indian mysticism to European hermeticism, the underlying subject is the interpenetration of diverse cultures and the intrinsically syncretic nature of transcendental aspiration.”
Although a group of watercolors was shown in New York, and several oils were exhibited in Berlin a few years ago, this is the first time that a substantial, integrated ensemble of these works has been seen in the United States, or, for that matter, in the Americas. The selection for this presentation includes twelve works on canvas and eighteen works on paper.
The Gallery’s exhibitions and related programs add a new perspective to the University’s already rich visual-arts offerings, which include the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Architecture Gallery in Paul Rudolph Hall, and are free and open to the public. For directions to 32 Edgewood Gallery, information about hours, and further details about programming: http://art.yale.edu/Gallery or 1-203-432-2600.