Noite Luiz Roque

The stuff that dreams are made of

After two decades creating moving images, the new forms presented by Luiz Roque emerge from clay. The ceramics resemble accessories, items to be worn or attached to the body, power objects. Their zoomorphic outlines evoke past worlds or a future where plastic had been replaced by mud. The sculptures are not stood on classic pedestals but depend on the wall for support. Some have been created from the merging of separate parts, in a process analogous to collage. Roque’s use of ceramics makes sense. The first icons, those figures that millennia later would become the celebrities of today, were molded in clay. It was only a long time afterwards that they would be captured via photographic processes. The artist’s decision is, therefore, an archeology of media, a sort of return.

A shop called Sex

The kingdom of sexuality has become a huge market. The most popular dating app amongst the gay population lends its title to the new series. The pieces are accompanied by two works that investigate sexuality in a more explicit way. Whilst the photogram Cortina [Curtain] is a eulogy to orgasm, República [Republic], a work commissioned by Pivô in partnership with Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, challenges our understanding of pleasure. Employing a documental tone and images captured on video and Super-8, the film revolves around performer Marcinha do Corintho. Marcinha was one of the pioneers of the Atlantic crossing that has taken numerous Brazilian transgender women to Europe. The work is also a homage to the city center of São Paulo and its square República, a gathering point for sex workers. Sexual and gender immigration flows are at the core of the narrative. The round exhibition window is a reference to the ‘enchanted circle’ that distinguishes between sexual acts according to a hierarchy of value, marking off what is good/healthy/natural in sex and what is not.[1] Those who inhabit the outside limits of this circle are exposed to the spotlight of fashion or the searchlight of police.  The subversive implications of style are made at night.

– Leo Felipe
 
[1] RUBIN, Gayle. Pensando o sexo. In Políticas do sexo. Translated by Jamille Pinheiro Dias. São Paulo: Ubu Editora, 2017.