Kulturhuset, Stockholm: Miguel Rio Branco - Solo


Between the Eyes, the Desert 1997 © Miguel Rio Branco/Magnum Photos

Bola de Cristal, 2008 © Miguel Rio Branco/Magnum Photos

Blue Tango, 1984 © Miguel Rio Branco/Magnum Photos

Miguel Rio Branco is one of the greatest visual artists of our time. Born in 1946 in Las Palmas, Spain he spent his childhood moving around the world. Since the 1970s he lives and works mainly in Rio de Janeiro.

Kulturhuset is the first institution in Scandinavia to present a major exhibition featuring the work of Miguel Rio Branco. It is a generous display with around 70 photographs, installations and films from the 1970s until today. A starting point for the exhibition is the film I won't take anything with me when I die, those who owe me something will pay me in hell (1979), together with the acclaimed photographic series from Salvador de Bahia, Pelourinho district from the same year.

Pelourinho, 1979 © Miguel Rio Branco/Magnum Photos

Other works central to the exhibition include the early black and white series Dislexia, the Blue Tango cibachrome series from 1984, depicting boys engaged in capoeira, the installations Between the Eyes, the Desert (1997) and Out of Nowhere (1994). Several works from Miguel Rio Branco’s stay in Tokyo in 2008 are presented.

I felt priviligued to stroll around this universe ( gallery 5, Kulturhuset) of Miguel Rio Branco's art in the making. His idea of how to put an exhibition together appeals a lot to me. There is an interaction between photos, film, music, projections...one room is jammed with his recycled photos, newspaper and magazine cuttings, mirrors...

Miguel Rio Branco tells me that he admires the Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm and the way he made his images work together as a whole. He does not want to categorize his work as "documentary photography" or anything similar. On the contrary, he has been inspired by painters like Goya, Rosenberg and by going to the cinema. He regards himself as a world citizen or maybe "out of this world" referring to the current state of things. I ask him about the red colour in his photos "sangre y amor"? He explains that his colour photos are almost monocromatic - he never includes the whole rainbow. Often red with some blues.

You should visit this exhibition. It is a unique opportunity to get to know one of the great artists of today.

The exhibition opens 8 October and will be on until 29 January 2012

Photo by Mr Urbano who visited Kulturhuset today and had a chat with Miguel Rio Branco.



Comments

br said…
a great photographer!!!
Skrev said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Simon Johansson said…
Nice that you put in the time to do this, Ulf! I hadn't heard about this photographer before. But now i have :). I will visit the exhibition.