Paulo Monteiro at Archipelago Paulo Monteiro

Archipelago is proud to present an exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Paulo Monteiro (b. 1961, São Paulo, Brazil) in its residency and gallery space in Germantown, New York, USA. Archipelago is an arts-and-research institute devoted to spirituality, thinking, and healing. At a constellation of sites across the globe, we host exhibitions, artists’ residencies, and a growing research library. 

In a new series of paintings on linen, painted partially in São Paulo, Brazil, and in residency in Germantown, Monteiro’s shapes become more rounded and colors more vibrant, continuing the artist’s signature research into the materiality of paint and the delimitations of the canvas – painting as sculpture, sculpture as painting.  

Monteiro began his artistic practice in the 1980s by precariously assembling found wood into compositions that simultaneously suggest motion and collapse, focusing on the expression of the material. In the last decade Monteiro has turned to pieces of rope, scraps of wood, cardboard, aluminum strips, lead and clay for the foundations of his sculptures. When using clay, he splays clay slabs open, dissects, and presses them with his hand until an animated interior reveals itself. The same conceptual unfolding process is applied to his painting technique, with inversions and constructions operating from the center of the painting. Paint is pushed to the edges of the canvas, creating forceful, physical borders. 

Concurrently to this exhibition at Archipelago, Monteiro has presented a series of works at Pace Gallery, New York.