| February 27, 2011 | to | March 27, 2011 |
| March 19, 2011 |
| 3:00 pm |
RUINS ~ Lara Viana, a Permament Project at the Regency Townhouse, Hove
“Allegories are, in the realm of thoughts, what ruins are in the realm of things”
Walter Benjamin [1]
Working at the cusp between abstraction and figuration, found objects and images are most frequently the starting point for many of Viana’s paintings. With thinly applied brushstrokes Viana breaks up the image and reconstructs what she sees allowing the paint to uncover a new image lost from its original source, now transformed into a relic of what it once was. Painterly gestures become tools to obfuscate obvious imagery or subject matter.
(Lara Viana’s works) “… radiate a peculiar energy that sits somewhere between the fuzzy warmth of recollection and the alchemical mystery of the re-dimensionalised subject. Viana appears at home within the representational hall of mirrors that connects the world of painting with that of imaging, drawing one’s attention to the innate human desire to render things realistically and the ways that new technologies fracture our understanding of reality.” Rebecca Geldard 2009
Lara Viana was born and brought up in Salvador, Brazil. She graduated from the Painting Department at the Royal College of Art in 2007, she was selected for New Contemporaries in 2008, Whitechapel Gallery’s ‘East End Academy – The Painting Edition’ in 2009 and Studio Voltaire ‘SV10 Members Show’ in 2010. Her work was included in ‘Psychic Geography’ at Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, 2010. Forthcoming shows in 2011 include solo exhibitions at Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf in June followed by Galerie De-Expeditie, Amsterdam in September. Lara Viana is represented by Domo Baal.
Lara Viana has won a São Paulo Biennial Foundation Award for 2011. A publication has been produced for this exhibition with a new essay on Viana’s work by Laura McLean-Ferris, designed by Alex Rich.
The Regency Town House is a restoration project on Brunswick Square, in Hove, an early 19th century housing development by Charles Busby. In between the periods in which restoration work is carried out the Town House hosts exhibitions and events.
Permanent is a not-for-profit organisation that supports artists to realise experimental exhibitions and projects across Brighton & Hove. For more information see: www.permanentgallery.com
This exhibition is kindly supported by the São Paulo Biennial Foundation, DOMOBAAL Gallery and The Regency Town House.
Exhibition Talk
Saturday 19 March, 2011, 3pm
The Regency Town House, Free
Jonathan Miles (Fine Art Critical & Historical Studies Tutor, Royal College of Art) will respond to the exhibition and be in conversation with the artist.
[1] Walter Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama, (London/New York: Verso, 1998) p.178
Image: Untitled (chair), Lara Viana, oil on board, 30 x 25cm, 2010, photograph Andy Keate, Courtesy DOMOBAAL
A Permanent Project at The Regency Town House
13 Brunswick Square, Hove
Open: Saturdays & Sundays, 11.00am – 6.00pm
www.permanentgallery.com