Jorge Guinle

Jorge Guinle (New York, United States 1947 - Rio de Janeiro 1987)

Jorge Guinle was a painter, draftsman, and engraver. He moved with his family to Brazil in the year of his birth and remained in Rio de Janeiro until 1955. From 1955 to 1962, accompanying his mother, he lived in Paris and then in New York, where he resided until 1965. In France, he began his self-taught painting studies, in addition to frequenting museums and art galleries, a practice he continued when he moved to the United States. Exposure to works by both master painters and contemporary artists was a defining moment in his development. He was particularly influenced by the works of French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and by movements of action painting and North American pop art.

From 1965 to 1974, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, also spending time in London and Paris, where he returned in 1974, settling for another three years. In 1977, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where his work gained increasing recognition. In the 1980s, he began to participate in the country's major art exhibitions. His output, concentrated in the last seven years of his life, was primarily dedicated to painting, notable for its vigor and complex references to modern and contemporary artistic movements.

Jorge Guinle was an important advocate for the revaluation of painting, especially within the group of young artists known as the Generation of the 80s. He participated in the exhibition "Como Vai Você, Geração 80?" (How Are You, Generation of the 80s?), held at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (EAV/Parque Lage) in Rio de Janeiro in 1984, wrote a text for the special edition of Módulo magazine dedicated to this exhibition, and participated in several exhibitions and events organized by these artists, in addition to writing about his own works.

Critical Commentary

Jorge Guinle spent much of his life between Paris and New York, where he encountered action painting and pop art, which were crucial to his development. He settled in Brazil in 1977. In the following years, the country's political openness favored artistic expression, and Guinle resumed his career, which he began in the mid-1960s, with renewed vigor. His trajectory was very rapid: he worked for seven years, producing remarkable works. Between 1980 and 1982, he conducted interviews for the nationally circulated magazine Interview with important Brazilian artists, such as Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980), Rubens Gerchman (1942-2008), Antonio Dias (1944), Lygia Clark (1920-1988), Cildo Meireles (1948), and Mira Schendel (1919-1988), among others.

A natural colorist, Guinle attributes his discovery of painting to his contact with the works of French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954), particularly Woman Reading on a Black Background (1939). He works with abstract art, utilizing gestures and constantly engaging with artists of Abstract Expressionism, particularly Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), and Franz Kline (1910-1962). He uses large canvases with vast areas of color, allowing the eye to be carried away by the rhythm of the brushstrokes. In paintings such as "Operação Plástica" (1980), he reveals his admiration for Henri Matisse, a similar experience to his painting "Cobertas Coarctadas" (1981), which showcases the French master's chromatic range, exemplified in "Landscape of Collioure" (1905).

His works oscillate between figuration and abstraction. In "Galicíneo Galhardeado" (1982), he depicts real or imaginary beings. In others, he suggests landscapes, as in "Copacabana Me Engana" (Copper Is Engaging Me) or "Passenger" (Passenger) (both 1983). Friday (1985) presents an orderly will, with well-defined areas, defined contours, and cutouts of prints that resemble the backgrounds of works by Paul Klee (1879-1940) or Bram van Velde (1895-1981). In Infinite Landscape (1985), he creates a whirlwind of chromatic impressions. The nuances of color, with a strong luminous pulse, are achieved through gesture. The painting Ascent to Heaven (1986) borders on total abstraction. The medium is filled with almost a single rhythm; the visual effect is reminiscent of those achieved by Pollock, for example in Eyes in the Heat (1946).

In the opinion of scholar Christina Bach, a shift occurred in the artist's works between 1986 and 1987, distancing him from the experimental anxiety of the previous period. Trojan Horse, Brazilwood, and The Vowels (all 1986) feature large planes of softer colors, achieved through the use of diluted paints, and reveal a sense of introspection. The use of translucent and shimmering colors recalls works by de Kooning, such as Palisade (1957) or Suburb in Havana (1958). The paintings Ulysses and Fisherman's Head (both 1987) display a less feverish gesture, more subtle tones, and a more rhythmic distribution of elements. Guinle combines the vigor he imparts to these canvases with the subtle, almost ethereal aspect of the color and execution. Due to the abundant incidence of yellows, often punctuated by bright reds, a solar atmosphere predominates in some paintings. In works such as "Iasmin" and "The Body" (both 1987), the paints liquefy, becoming light, and revealing profound emotional depth.

Throughout his career, the artist participated in several national exhibitions, including the show "Como Vai Você, Geração 80?" (How Are You, Generation 80?), held at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (EAV/Parque Lage), Rio de Janeiro, in 1984. Formed by a group of young artists known as "Generação 80," their works are related to research and revaluation of painting techniques, in contrast to the conceptual trends of Brazilian art in the 1970s. Guinle's important role as an advocate for this new generation stands out: he prepared a critical text for the exhibition catalog, participated in several collective demonstrations and events promoted by the artists, and wrote about their works.

Reviews

"These canvases demand a furious but extremely cultivated gaze, with a vast modern memory. The operation is dizzying, exhausting, and engages a physical gaze, ready to feel the palpitations of the material, the energy of the gestures, the artist's different and divergent decisions—the abrupt attacks, the obsessive maneuvers, the various moods that each canvas seems to literally exude. There is no way to explore them from an ideal vantage point: it is necessary to experience them through the pores of the painting. (...)

Before these canvases, we relive the basic dilemma, the aporia, of contemporary art—all the freedom, the availability imaginable, yet operating in a closed territory, in the cloister of Art and Culture. Installation, happening, object, sculpture, or painting, whatever the medium, the question imposes itself with the same urgency: how to make art exist in the contemporary world? And, of course, it is not about some a vague desire to change the world, but rather, first and foremost, to change one's own being in the world. Therefore, in more than one sense, the dialogue of Jorge Guinle's canvases is not only with modern languages ​​but also with the institutional reality of these languages, not only with painting but with everything that happened to it. Internalized, internalized in their ironic drama, are both the brilliant adventure of modern art and its sad institutional end, both the world of art and art in the world. Only all of this is experienced as painting, and never as a commentary on visual clichés.

Thus, in the same trance, the gaze must follow as best it can the interlocked planes, the different textures, the apparent arbitrariness of the colors, finally adhering to this heterogeneity, while recognizing the history that unfolds there. (...) Anyone who doesn't locate Picasso and Matisse, Pollock and de Kooning, who isn't familiar with pop art, will miss the work. It is upon this historical reality that its anguish and humor are focused. to the exact extent that, to a certain extent, all of Jorge Guinle's painting is a kind of parody of the freedom to paint (...)".
Ronaldo Brito
BRITO, Ronaldo. Paroxismos de pintura. In: GUINLE, Jorge. Jorge Guinle. São Paulo: Galeria Luisa Strina, 1984. p. [3-6].

"(...) It was at the beginning of the 1980s that Jorge Guinle's work took on the body, soul, and elan that still define him today. Typical of a postmodern stance, he made painting, simultaneously energetic and controlled, spontaneous in appearance and willful at its core, his field of immersion and commentary. What is immediately volcanic there is a tactical instrument. For he is not interested in covering canvas after canvas with simple, disordered gestures, born of an unconscious fury, of an energy whose cause and target are unknown. He does not deconstruct, by unnamed impulse; on the contrary, he problematizes painting in the very act of painting. All the liberating vivacity of his neo-expressionism carries a powerful dose of calculation. It is a ritual of cannibalism: the art of the past passed, with the greatest care, through the cauldron of the art of today. Stubborn digestion."
Roberto Pontual
PONTUAL, Roberto. Jorge Guinle. In: _______. Between two centuries: 20th-century Brazilian art in the Gilberto Chateaubriand collection. Rio de Janeiro: Editora JB, 1987. p. 517.

"Jorge's activity was a constant absorption/return that permeated his relationship with the world: the result, in the end, was the rediscovery of painting, his painting, always in the form of an unbridled explosion. Gestural, nervous, vibrant, generous, and capable of descending into details that resist even the most cursory glance. And also careless, at times, in that carelessness means purposefully ignoring the possibilities of the technique (quite limited, in fact), in order to better unravel the mysteries (which are unlimited) of painting itself: there are few canvases on which there is not the occasional craquelé, the occasional film wrinkled by excess medium. But, with this, Jorge progressively expanded his possibilities, as few artists of his generation knew how to do."
Reynaldo Roels Jr.
ROELS JÚNIOR, Reynaldo. [Presentation text]. In: GUINLE, Jorge. Jorge Guinle: l'heure bleue. Rio de Janeiro: Anna Maria Niemeyer Gallery, 1989. p. [ 7 ].

"(...) It is necessary to emphasize the special poetic concentration that protected Jorge Guinle from mistaken influences: the artist was not naive. He soon visited the great international collections - Matisse and Picasso, Pollock and de Kooning were his declared childhood heroes. The painter knew how to distill his teachings and, moreover, converted them into his own substance.
Thus, engaging with his work is to undertake a significant cultural elucidation: the most diverse types of expressionism, the most varied species of abstraction, Fauvism and its descendants, Cubism and its countless revivals, among many other historical references, must necessarily be consulted. We will be asked to resolve confrontations and conspiracies, even ancient ones. It is certain that only with time, by dwelling at length on this painter's enormous rectangles, will it be possible to see the scope of a production that was born full of intelligent indications: they are 'turns of painting'.
Furthermore, the artist was omnivorous (...). And it's clear that everything and everyone communicates. In Jorge Guinle, just look: Matisse's lyricism meets Picasso's determination; de Kooning's anguish blends with Bram van Velde's melancholy; Pollock's existential suffering is joined by Andy Warhol's cynicism. One could spend hours searching for references from Cézanne to Pop in his plans. The artist was never intimidated by any of these masters. On the contrary, he encouraged dormant conversations, stubbornly trying to revive themselves at the end of the century that welcomed the greatest artistic epiphanies."
Christina Bach
BACH, Christina. Jorge Guinle: solar energy. In: ______. Jorge Guinle. Presentation by Ronaldo Brito. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2001. p. 18-19.

Testimonials

"My iconography is abstract. It is an iconography of art history, not an identified iconography, like that of the German and Italian neo-expressionists, or even Schnabel, who, even using an image, reduces its function to zero. At this point, I think the paths of the new school and my painting diverge. At the same time, there is a conservative and historicist dialogue between my work and theirs, in the use of canvas and oil paint, traditional materials par excellence. There is also a dialogue between my work and the cultivators of the new school, in the notion of a choice of style already given and directed; in a heterogeneity that would deny the uniqueness of thought that creates the homogeneous sublime. In my case, for emotional and aesthetic reasons, there is a mixture of gestural abstract-expressionism, of de Kooning and Matisse, even an automatist surrealism. But each appropriation of a style, of an initial thought, is diverted from the initial purpose of the chosen school precisely by its inclusion. of another school that would be its negation. For example, the decorative side, the Matissian joie-de-vivre of colors, would be negated by the rhythmically exacerbated construction of abstract expressionism. On the other hand, the tragedy of this same abstractionist brushstroke is negated by the optimism of color and the comic ambiguity of the operation. The possibility and pleasure of always expanding and nourishing these contradictions form the basis of my artistic praxis. The sublime could precisely emerge in this critique of the already embalmed and obsolete sublime, in this exiguous frontier, where it is born and disappears. Jorge Guinle GUINLE, Jorge. [Painting against the wall]. In: SÃO PAULO INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL, 17, 1983, São Paulo, SP. General catalog. São Paulo: Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, 1983. p. 201. [Final excerpt of the text originally published on the Jorge Guinle exhibition poster. Rio de Janeiro: Espaço ABC, MAM/RJ, 1982].

"The emotion I feel when the canvas is finished is very strong. It's an incredible emotion, one I've never confessed. A total emotion, of harmony with the world, of happiness. A very strong emotion of returning to the past and to all my past memories. A sense of the comic nature of life, like a Zen moment, where you see all the absurdity but find it funny. A total security before the world, a happiness, a calm, a feeling of peace.
When I take a canvas from one place to another, I hold it with special care, feeling its roughness, its frame. Instead of meditating, I paint. That's how I find my sartori: total peace with the world where opposites come together."
Jorge Guinle
GUINLE, Jorge. [Testimony]. In: ______. Jorge Guinle: l'heure bleue. Rio de Janeiro: Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer, 1989. p. [13]. [Text written in September 1986].

Solo Exhibitions

1973 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo Exhibition, at Grupo B Gallery
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 14 Erotic Paintings, at Anna Maria Niemeyer Gallery
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Oblique Memory, at Andrea Sigaud Gallery
1981 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Disregard, at Parnaso Art Gallery
1981 - Brasília, DF - Disregard, at Jorge Souza Gallery
1982 - São Paulo, SP - Diacritical Steps, at Luisa Strina Gallery
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo Exhibition, at MAM/RJ. ABC Space
1983 - Niterói, RJ - Pacemaker, at the UFF Art Gallery
1984 - São Paulo, SP - Solo show, at the Luisa Strina Gallery
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo show, at the CCCM Gallery
1985 - Munich (Germany) - Solo show, at the Irene Maeder Gallery
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo show, at the Saramenha Gallery
1986 - São Paulo, SP - Solo show, at the Luisa Strina Gallery
1986 - Vitória, ES - Solo show, at the Usina Gallery

Group Exhibitions

1965 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Group Exhibition, at the Copacabana Palace Hotel Gallery
1978 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 1st National Visual Arts Salon, at the MNBA
1979 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 2nd National Visual Arts Salon, at the MAM/RJ
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 6th The Face and the Work, at the Ibeu Copacabana Gallery
1981 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 4th National Visual Arts Salon, at the MAM/RJ
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 5th National Visual Arts Salon, at the MAM/RJ
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Between the Spot and the Figure, at the MAM/RJ
1983 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Art Today, at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation. Palace of Arts
1983 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 13 Artists/13 Works, at Thomas Cohn Contemporary Art
1983 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 6th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1983 - São Paulo, SP - 17th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation
1984 - Curitiba, PR - Simões de Assis Art Gallery: inaugural exhibition, at Simões de Assis Art Gallery
1984 - Fortaleza, CE - 7th National Visual Arts Salon
1984 - Niterói, RJ - 1st Contemporary Brazilian Art, at the UFF Art Gallery
1984 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 7th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1984 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Como Vai You, Generation 80?, at EAV/Parque Lage
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Long Live Painting, at Petite Galerie
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Visual Arts, at MAM/RJ - overseas travel award
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1985 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at Galeria Subdistrito
1985 - Vitória ES - 3 Fugitives, at Ufes. Art and Research Gallery
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Four Paintings, at the CCCM
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Occupied Territory, at the EAV/Parque Lage
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Transvanguard and National Cultures, at the MAM/RJ
1986 - São Paulo, SP - 4th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at the Biennial Foundation
1987 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Hallucinatory Gesture, at the Rio Design Center

Posthumous Exhibitions

1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Hora Azul, at CCCM. Grande Galeria
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the Collector: tribute to Gilberto Chateaubriand, at MAM/RJ
1988 - São Paulo SP - Jorge Guinle: Blue Phase - Unpublished Works, at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Jorge Guinle: L'heure bleue, at Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1989 - São Paulo SP - Gesture and Structure, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
1990 - Campo Grande MS - Solo Exhibition, at Galeria de Arte Contemporânea
1990 - Los Angeles (USA) - Brazil Projects '90, at Municipal Art Gallery
1990 - São Paulo SP - Brazil Projects '90, at MASP
1991 - Monterrey (Mexico) - Myth and Magic in America: The Eighties, at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 10 Years: Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes Collection, at MAM/RJ
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - BR/80: Brazilian Painting of the 1980s, at Fundação Casa França-Brasil
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo Exhibition, at Itaugaleria
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo Exhibition, at MAM/RJ
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st A Caminho de Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at Paço Imperial
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Differences, at MNBA
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo Exhibition, at Museu da República
1992 - São Paulo SP - Solo Exhibition, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel de Arnaud
1993 - Niterói RJ - 2nd A Caminho de Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Emblems of the Body: The Nude in Modern Brazilian Art, at CCBB
1993 - Washington (USA) - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at Art Museum of the Americas
1994 - Poços de Caldas MG - Unibanco Collection: 70th Anniversary Exhibition, at Casa de Cultura
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at MAM/RJ
1994 - São Paulo SP - Brazil 20th Century Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at Casa das Rosas
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Unibanco Collection: 70th Anniversary Exhibition, at MAM/RJ
1995 - São Paulo SP - The 1980s: Stage of Diversity, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Scream, at MNBA
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Erotic Journey: From the Figure to the Abstract, at UERJ. Galeria Candido Portinari
1997 - Curitiba PR - Contemporary Printmaking, at Museu Metropolitano de Arte de Curitiba
1997 - Niterói RJ - Jorge Guinle: Works from the João Leão Sattamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo Exhibition, at Pace Arte Galeria
1998 - Goiânia GO - The 1980s, at Galeria de Arte Marina Potrich
1998 - Niterói RJ - Biennial Mirror, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - São Paulo SP - Highlights from the Unibanco Collection, at Instituto Moreira Salles
1998 - São Paulo SP - Modern and Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at MASP
1999 - Vila Velha ES - Jorge Guinle: Marcio Espindula Collection, at Museu Ferroviário Vale do Rio Doce
1999 - Vitória ES - Solo Exhibition, at Galeria Pedro Nolasco
2000 - Curitiba PR - Jorge Guinle: Drawings, at Galeria Casa da Imagem
2000 - Niterói RJ - Paintings from the João Sattamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500: Exhibition of Rediscovery, at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - Jorge Guinle: Drawings, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Watercolor, at Centro Cultural Light
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/RJ
2001 - São Paulo SP - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/SP
2002 - Niterói RJ - Sattamini Collection: Moderns and Contemporaries, at MAC/Niterói
2002 - Porto Alegre RS - Violence and Passion, at Santander Cultural
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Rio Contemporary Art Exhibition, at MAM/RJ
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - UCAM Art Collection Selection, at CCCM
2002 - São Paulo SP - 28 (+) Painting, at Espaço Virgílio
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of the Now: Recent Brazilian Art from the João Sattamini Collection at MAC Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2002 - São Paulo SP - Parallel, at Galpão on Avenida Matarazzo, 530
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Marcantonio Vilaça - Contemporary Passport, at MAC/USP
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Century of a Brazilian: Roberto Marinho Collection, at Paço Imperial
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Where Are You, Generation 80?, at CCBB
2004 - São Paulo SP - The Biennials: A Look at Brazilian Production, at Galeria Bergamin
2005 - São Paulo SP - The Century of a Brazilian: Roberto Marinho Collection, at MAM/SP
2007 - Belo Horizonte MG - Collection Group Exhibition, at Galeria Murilo Castro
2007 - São Paulo SP - Itaú Contemporary: Art in Brazil 1981-2006, at Itaú Cultural
2008 - Porto Alegre RS - Jorge Guinle - Beautiful Chaos, at Fundação Iberê Camargo
2009 - São Paulo SP - Jorge Guinle - Beautiful Chaos, at MAM/SP