Sesc Avenida Paulista exhibits “Absolutely fantastic lived changes” – a retrospective of more than 20 years of avaf, acronym for assume vivid astro focus, an artist collective founded in 2001. Working with a wide range of media, including installations, painting, sculpture, tapestry, neon, wallpaper, among others, the collective often takes on different formations, the depending on the projects you are involved in. For avaf, the public’s experience is fundamental for the realization of the project.
In the retrospective that takes place until July 30 at Sesc Avenida Paulista, spatiality, colors and the metaphor of transformation are central axes. The pieces that make up the show are, for the most part, landscape representations displayed in the form of a large labyrinth, exploring connections between the outside world and introspection, between past and present dialogues. Color is used as a universal language, with the intention of ensuring audience participation and delivery.
In this labyrinth, which occupies the 5th floor of the unit, the viewer will find a narrative that goes back to the history of the collective. The show features around 30 wallpapers, since the first creation of the collective on this support. avaf thinks and creates wallpapers like landscapes, designed and resized according to the different exhibition spaces they will occupy.
For avaf, the wallpapers do not follow the strict sense of the word, they are not limited to a repeated pattern, on the contrary, they are relocatable, remixed and ephemeral. At the same time that they narrate the creative history of the collective, proposing a journey through different works, eras and formations of avaf, the wallpapers assume a real pictorial manifestation and then disappear, synthesizing the importance that the transformation assumes for the collective itself.
The show includes works in other media, such as painting, sculpture, neon and video. The videos enhance the viewer’s sensory experience and function as an extension of the wallpapers, designed edge-to-edge, as well as appearing in peep shows.
One of the audiovisual works is the documentation of the performance House of Chroma, signed by avaf in collaboration with the artists Mavi Veloso, Natasha Princess, Bruno Mendonça and João Paes, performed in several galleries and museums worldwide. The essay shows one of the formations assumed by avaf preparing to enter the scene.
A second video compiles backdrops made by the collective for DJ Honey Dijon, while another shows different phrases that the avaf acronym can assume, with creations by the collective and beyond. The joke of creating several phrases from the avaf acronym was appropriated by the public and ended up also transforming the meaning of the artistic name of the collective into a multi-handed project, synthesizing the essence of avaf – for whom everything changes all the time. This constant transformation that the collective undergoes has repercussions on its representations: the works question stereotypes and become confrontation and lyricism. The installation, in this sense, builds a queer identity, not only in the sense of gender identity, but also, and mainly, in the sense of presenting artistic results that break expectations.
In the labyrinth that makes up the show, there are also two immersive rooms and two other walls with paintings. The visit plays with the essence of the labyrinth in promoting an experience of getting lost and found.
Service
“absolutely fanciful lived alterations”
Date: until July 30, 2023
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, from 10 am to 9:30 pm. Saturdays, from 10 am to 7:30 pm. Sundays and holidays, from 10 am to 6:30 pm.
Age rating: 14 years old
Location: Sesc Avenida Paulista (Avenida Paulista, 119 – Art I – 5th floor)
Free – Open to the public