Lydia Okumura

Okumura had her first solo exhibition in 1968 and later was part of Equipe3 (1970-1979) along with artists Francisco Iñarra and Genilson Soares. She contributed in a fundamental way to the development of ephemeral site-specific installations and many of them are documented in MAC-USP, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Hall Art Foundation - Germany, MetropolitanNY, MoMA (New York) and Guggenheim (Abu Dhabi). First impressions of Lydia Okumura’s individual work can easily be misleading. For almost 50 years, the Brazilian-born, New York based artist has been investigating the interstice between two and three-dimensional space through precise, site-specific installations. Mostly using acrylic paint, cotton string, painted aluminum sheets, charcoal and pencil, Okumura constructs abstract geometric compositions that project from the walls into three-dimensional space. Although her practice can be framed within the minimalist tradition, op art is also at play. Through modest interventions, Okumura enhances our awareness of our bodily presence in the exhibition space. ...

Founded in São Paulo in 2011, Galeria Jaqueline Martins is a space for research, documentation and presentation of contemporary artistic production. It proposes collaborative curatorial strategies that foster dialogue between different generations and different cultural perspectives. One of its guiding principles is the encouragement of research-oriented conceptualist practices characterized by critical, even subversive, approaches. Since its inauguration, the gallery has developed a special program around the investigation of artistic productions carried out during the Brazilian military period – more specifically from the 1970s and 1980s. It promotes a historical revision of processes grounded on strong intellectual resistance, audacity and commitment to art and which transformed the artistic practice in the country, but nonetheless were neglected throughout the last decades. By integrating research and practice that confront the contemporary scene by means of its exhibition program, the gallery encourages the revival of the debate that conceives of artistic actions as contact zones for the exercise of aesthetic, social and political change. In 2020 the gallery opened its second exhibition space, in Brussels, aiming to expand our presence in Europe and to develop a multidisciplinary program that will foster connections between our artists and Brazilian art practices in an international context. ...