Lucia Laguna
de Lucia Laguna, Luiz Antônio Simas, Diane Lima, Marcelo Campos
Lucia Laguna (b. 1941, Rio de Janeiro) paints from the environs of the suburb where she lives in the Rio de Janeiro Rocha neighborhood, collaging references originated from art history, her atelierœs garden and an extensive view of the city. Between figuration and abstraction, the paintings collected in this book whisper the disordered insistence of life from flowers, leaves and twigs, contra urban lines: the train line, the sea line, Linha Vermelha, Linha Amarela, Avenida Brasil. Edited by curator Marcelo Campos, this volume draws a panorama of the artistœs career, divided in three parts referring to the categories or work spheres which title Lucia Lagunaœs painting series: Landscape and Architectureʺ, Garden and Worldʺ, and Studio and Windowʺ. The bilingual edition also features three previously unpublished essays. In The Artist with Open Windowsʺ, writer and historian Luiz Antonio Simas writes about the genealogy of Rocha and the influence of the suburbs, seen through atelier windows, in Lagunaœs oeuvre. In In Search of Lagunaœs Gardenʺ, curator Diane Lima focuses on the artistœs relationship to the great painting masters, as well as with her own garden, in addition to exploring her pictorial procedures. Marcelo Campos, who edited the publication, builds in Crossing Banal Worldsʺ an essay where he articulates fundamental elements to understand the painterœs oeuvre: the observation of daily life, the influence of the cityœs geography, her method and discipline, and her references to art history.