Abraham Palatnik
Progression
October 26 - December 14, 2017
ABRAHAM PALATNIK
[1928, Brazil]
A pioneer of kinetic art in Brazil, Abraham Palatnik’s investigations into technology, mobility, and light led to a groundbreaking understanding of visual phenomena. In 1932, Palatnik moved to Tel Aviv where he studied painting, drawing, and art history at the Municipal Art Institute. It was during this time that he took a specialized course in Internal Combustion Engines at the Montefiore School.
In 1947, Palatnik returned to Rio de Janeiro. During this time he began to visit the Dom Pedro II Psychiatric Hospital, coordinated by Dr. Nise da Silveira. Upon seeing the artworks by schizophrenic patients who presented an exceptional production, even without previous art training, Palatnik recognized his art impotent and decided to move in a new direction. He therefore gave up his work with brushes and started to engage in a freer relation between form and color. His research resulted in the creation of his first Kinechromatic Device, a motorized light sculpture that cast a play of light and shadow into space.
Palatnik’s Kinechromatic Device, Objeto Cinecromático: Azul e Roxo em Primeiro, was awarded honorable mention at the 1st São Paulo Bienal in 1951. Since 1951, Abraham Palatnik has participated in eight editions of the São Paulo Biennale. In 1964, he participated in the 32 Venice Biennale. In the 1950s, in addition to making kinetic objects, mobiles, and drawings, Palatnik shifted his focus to creating cardboard and wood compositions.
His practice which spans over sixty years questions time, movement, and the relationship between man and nature. For Palatnik, the artist’s role is to discipline the perception of chaos. His most recent exhibitions include “A Reinvenção da Pintura” (The Reinvention of Painting, 2015), at the Museu Iberê Camargo in Porto Alegre, a survey of sixty-five years of work. Previous iterations were shown in Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba (2014), Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo - MAM-SP, (2014), and the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2013).
2017 | En el ejercicio de las cosas, CCBB, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Abraham Palatnik: Progression - Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Abraham Palatnik - ver, mover - Galeria Nara Roesler - Sao Paulo, São Paulo |
2016 | Abraham Palatnik, Galeria Nara Roesler New York, USA |
2015 | Abraham Palatnik, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Abraham Palatnik: A reinvenção da pintura, Museu Ibere Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil |
2014 | Abraham Palatnik: A reinvenção da pintura, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil |
| Abraham Palatnik: A reinvenção da pintura, MAM-SP, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Diálogos com Palatnik, MAM-SP, São Paulo, Brazil |
2013 | Abraham Palatnik: pintura em movimento, Galeria Anita Schwartz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Abraham Palatnik: a reinvenção da pintura, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília, Brazil |
2012 | Palatnik, une discipline du chaos, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France Abraham Palatnik, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil |
2009 | Ocupação Abraham Palatnik, Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil Histórias e estórias da cor, Galeria Anita Schwartz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
2008 | Ordenando as nuvens, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil |
2004 | Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil |
2002 | Pioneer Palatnik – Painting Machines and Decelerating Machines, Instituto Cultural Itaú, São Paulo, Brazil |
2000 | Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil |
1998 | Retrospectiva 1942, Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil |
1965 | Howard Wise Gallery, New York, USA Hella Nebelung Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany |
1964 | Hochschule Museum, Saint Gallen, Switzerland Studio F Gallery, Ulm, Germany |
Adolpho Leirner Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Colección Enersis, Santiago, Chile Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Brasília, Brazil
Museu de arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Niterói, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium William Keiser Museum, Krefeld, Germany
