The Surroundings of Niura Bellavinha

The Surroundings of Niura Bellavinha 1

Niura Bellavinha with Lusco Fusco (Fluidos e Fixos,) 2015 Acrylic and oil on canvas 130cm x 230cm

Once again, Espace L  brings a fragment of Brazilian creative culture to down-town Geneva. The gallery’s new exhibition “Alentours” (Surroundings) opens this weekend. It’s worth checking out. The main act is the work of Niura Bellavinha. I meet her fresh from the airport. What she has brought with her awaits hanging; she takes me on a tour.

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Infiltração (Fluidos e Fixos,) 2010 Acrylic and oil on canvas 50cm x 39cm

An explanation of the technique behind her trademark, almost tartan-like, canvases gets lost in our Portufranglais translation. What I gather is that bold red paint running over delicate muted blue rectangles is achieved in part by infiltration of a heavy liquid layer of paint applied to the reverse of the canvas and allowed to permeate through. The technique is as intriguing as Niura herself; she tells me that this represents her personal surroundings.

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iTaLíTica_NháNhá, 2016 Acrylic and oil on canvas 100cm x 100cm

She becomes animated when she discusses her destructively mined home state of Minas Gerais. The rich red-brown pigment in the canvases representing her environmental surroundings is back-yard dust. She tells me of the importance of using the oldest and most basic pigments possible; the now familiar understated mineral blue is zirconium extracted from meteorites (Wow!)

The most intriguing (and the most difficult to photograph!) is a combined work representing Niura’s cosmic surroundings. Photographs of constellations taken by the Hubble telescope are juxtaposed with beautiful little dark canvases painted with ground meteorite. They glitter infinitely.

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Articulado Guignard, 2010 Multimedia

Niura is intense, other-worldly and mystical. She hands me a sumptuous book of her complete works that makes manifest her extensive career, imagination and talent. Espace L has done well to capture some fragments of her surroundings. Meeting her is a unique experience and, if I am honest, I leave the gallery a little bit in love with such an unchained spirit.