Maria Bonomi | 6 May – 10 June 2009

Tetraz VB, 2003
xylography on Nepalese paper / 148 x 297 cm

'Apoteose', 1993
xylography on Japanese paper, 97 x 131 cm

Epigrama (Kandinsky), 1984
aluminium / 24 x 24 cm

The Embassy of Brazil proudly presents an exhibition by Maria Bonomi, one of the most respected visual artists currently working in Brazil.

Maria is recognised for her prolific production covering a wide variety of media, including large public art pieces in various cities around the world. Her work also features in important private and public collections in Brazil and abroad.

The exhibition will present a series of large format engravings, woodcuts and lithographs, as well as sculptures. Some of these works were displayed at Huelva Museum, Spain, in 2005 and at her latest solo exhibition at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil, in 2008. The show will also present a selection of previously unseen works.

Maria's works are regarded as a milestone in the history of xylography on account of the special treatment given to the matrices, transforming them into highly elaborate sculptural pieces in their own right.

The defining characteristics of Maria's work are her respect for the artistic craft, her craftsmanship in the technique of woodcutting, and her engagement in the production of large scale public works. She has turned woodcutting into a paradigm and has recovered it via seemingly distant themes: lyrical visions of planted fields, horizons, and poetic forms capable of unfolding into multiple meanings and endless cycles. These shapes repeat and multiply themselves in various ways, generating new identities each time: 'I always do the same thing, and it is always different,' Maria says.

Born in 1935 in Meina, Italy, Maria holds a PhD in Public Art from the University of São Paulo. Her work includes sculpture, engraving and costume and set design. She has been awarded various prizes, including Best National Engraver, VIII São Paulo Biennial, 1965; Theadoron Prize, V Paris Biennial, 1967; International Jury Prize, XV International Engraving Biennial in Ljubljana, 1983; and Santos Prize – Engraving, Bunge Foundation, 1997.

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