VIVA REBEL

In the exhibition Viva Rebel, Raul Mourão occupied an empty plot of land on the edge of the neighbourhood of Leblon (Rio de Janeiro), surrounded by buildings with walls almost 20 meters high, where a residential development would later be constructed. The two original, large-scale kinetic sculptures were designed by the artist during the pandemic of 2020, and are developments of the series Grades. REBEL #1 and REBEL #2, each weighing about 1.5 tons. They are concerned with ideas of balance, the possibility of movement and care: a gentle push from the spectator is sufficient to move the structures and reconfigure the steel lines from which they are made. While the installation Perdido (2021) brings together a series of flags with red arrows printed on them, raised to a height of 6 meters at the entrance of the plot, and which demarcate the occupation of a territory. Both REBEL sculptures an Perdido installation use, as a starting point, the artist's interest in urban space and its permanent dynamic.

REBEL VIVA

by Fernanda Lopes

Over three decades of work, Raul Mourão has built a body of work that has always been interest in the spaces in between: between the public and the private, between the street and the studio, between the city circuit and the art circuit. In the Viva Rebel project, this “between” is presented once again. Two large-scale sculptures and an installation occupy the temporarily empty space left after the demolition of a house on the edge of the Leblon neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The border of the land is bounded by the over 20-meter-high walls of the building that once surrounded the house, transforming the place into a kind of dead-end overlooking the sea, as described by the artist 

The transformations of Rio de Janeiro 's urban space, reflecting and provoking social, political and economic changes, have been the subject of a series of photographs that the Rio de Janeiro artist has been making since late 1980's. In them, there are at least two elements that are still present in Mourão's work. The first of these are the white sidings with red arrows, used by the government to indicate diversions in urban space as a result of construction works. In Raul's work, the arrows were incorporated as photography, painting and interventions, over time, in dialogue not only with the city, but also with the history of art itself - in this case, the inheritance of a Brazilian constructive project, associated with the developmental dream of the 1950s. In Viva Rebel, the arrows are flags, witch, raised to a height of 6 meters at the entrance to the land, demarcate the occupation of a territory and again signal, for those passing by car or on foot, that something may be happening there.

Inside the plot, there are two new sculptures. Designed by Raul during 2020, under the effects of the pandemic, they are developments of the series Grades, which recall the gratings used for protection, security and isolation in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and which appear in photographs taken by the artist over three decades. The first works in this series initially occupied the museum and gallery spaces, but soon acquired a public scale and the and possibility of movement triggered by the spectator – as we can see in this exhibition. Each is formed of two elements in Corten steel: one that serves as a base and remains static, and the other, supported by the first, which moves in a seesaw motion. Despite each weighing about 1.5 tons, the issue here is not necessarily weight or brutality, but rather balance, the possibility of movement and care. A small gesture from the viewer is all that is required to make this whole mass move, causing the lines that form the steel structure to cross over each other, creating a visual realignment.

The movement that gives life to the piece is only possible if the viewer consents to be part of the project and engage with it. It is this engagement, this support and the possibility of resistance, not only in the field of art, but also beyond it, that seems to be the driver of this work. The title-manifesto of this exhibition, Viva Rebel, is in this sense, an installation and a warning. An essential space in Rio's music scene, Audio Rebel turned 15 last year and, like everything else, has suffered the effects of the pandemic. As part of the movement to keep the house running, Raul is producing and directing a documentary on the history of space. This exhibition is a tribute and a space for solidarity.

Raul Mourão is a multimedia artist, producer and art director. He studied at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage and takes part in exhibitions since 1991. His work consists of drawings, engravings, paintings, sculptures, video, photography, essays, installations and performances.