Marina Perez Simão - New Now New York Tuesday, March 12, 2024 | Phillips

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  • Born and raised in Brazil, Marina Perez Simão has become one of the most compelling contemporary painters working today. Known for her colorful semi-abstract paintings inspired by the landscapes of her home country, Untitled, painted in 2019, is a prime example of Simão’s delightful painterly style. The Brazilian artist joins other young female painters such as Pam Evelyn and Jadé Fadojutimi in her use of gestural abstraction to create dynamic and playful works. Currently represented by Pace Gallery and Mendes Wood DM, Simão’s work is held in the public collections of renowned institutions such as the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne in France, The Ekard Collection in the Netherlands, and the Samdani Art Foundation in Bangladesh, as well as the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky, the Dallas Museum of Art and the University of Chicago in the United States.

    “Landscape is very important for Brazilian artists. It's always there, because it's so imposing. The weather too. It will be hot and then the rain comes out of the blue. It is very dramatic in terms of color and how it affects our behavior.”
    —Marina Perez Simão

    Marina Perez Simão outlines landscapes of memory, spirituality, and imagination inspired by the subconscious experience of growing up within the natural landscapes of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.i Oscillating between figuration and abstraction, the Brazilian artist uses details that one can recognize such as mountains, a wave, or the sun – giving the viewer shapes and colors to grasp onto amidst her abstracted compositions. In the words of Diana Campbell, the curator for Simão’s recent exhibition at the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China, “Marina’s work attempts to open up portals of wonder in the viewer, making them imagine other universes where the limits of reality don’t hold.”ii

     

    Georgia O'Keeffe, Rust Red Hills, 1930, Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso. Artwork: © 2024 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

    Simão’s signature landscapes and evocative atmospheres could be said to be reminiscent of the work of the American female artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Known for her paintings of flowers and desert landscapes, O’Keeffe differentiated herself in the 1920s through her unique depictions of nature by simplifying its shapes and forms, recording the nuances of color, shape and light. This emotional connection to nature can also be found in Simao Perez’s paintings and their unique subtle chromatic harmonies.iii

     

    The influence of nature is evident in Untitled, with its semi-abstract mountainous landscape created by layered bands of earth tone colors. The deep red at the center of the composition stands out in particular; a color that often appears in the artist’s paintings, are thought to recall the clay soil and ochre puddles typical of Minas Gerais. In playing with color and space, Untitled invites the viewer into one of Simão’s enigmatic and acclaimed landscapes.

    “It's rooted in the feeling of living in the landscape, rather than the landscape itself.”
    —Marina Perez Simão

    Jennifer Piejko, “What Is It About Brazilian Artist Marina Perez Simão’s Dreamlike Landscapes That Is Making So Many Collectors Dream of Owning Them?”, artnet, March 21, 2022, online.

    ii Ibid. 

    iii “Pace Welcomes Marina Perez Simão,” Pace Gallery, January 14, 2021, online.

    • Provenance

      Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo
      Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2019

    • Exhibited

      São Paulo, Mendes Wood DM, Veredas, November 23, 2019–January 24, 2020

24

Sem titulo

signed and dated "MPeS 2019" on the reverse
oil on canvas
57 1/8 x 52 3/8 in. (145.1 x 133 cm)
Painted in 2019.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Sold for $101,600

Contact Specialist

Avery Semjen
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
T +1 212 940 1207
asemjen@phillips.com
 

New Now

New York Auction 12 March 2024