Kundalini, 2024. Acrylic on canvas, 78 3/4 x 47 1/4 in | 200 x 120 cm.
“Luminous Bodies”, Marina Caverzan’s first solo show at Janaina Torres Galeria, invites the public to cross borders and access new forms of perception. Curated by Ana Roman and with the special participation of Artur Lescher, the show explores the intersection between spirituality, abstraction and contemporary culture.
Inspired by Margaret Cavendish’s 17th century text The Resplendent World, a precursor to science fiction, the exhibition proposes a dialog between science, philosophy and imagination, where “luminous bodies” emerge as a metaphor to expand the ways of apprehending reality.
The show features paintings, an artist’s book and an installation by Marina Caverzan, as well as a set of three granite sculptures by Artur Lescher, creating an immersive environment where different artistic languages dialogue with philosophical and metaphysical questions.
Nominated for the Pipa Prize 2023, Marina Caverzan reinvigorates the repertoire of geometric abstractionism, imbuing rationality with the occult and the symbolic, where references to alchemy, mathematics and spiritual rituals meet. In her paintings and installations, the artist explores abstraction as a means of evoking transformative states of consciousness, in which the visible and the occult coexist.
In the first room of the exhibition, entitled Nave, the artist creates a space of crossing inspired by Tantra Songs, Indian tantric paintings which, through geometric shapes, induce introspection and spiritual connection. Like a “visual music” of shapes and colors, Marina’s works create a vibrant and sensorial environment, with references ranging from Hindu deities to the aesthetics of video games, exploring the coexistence of different levels of reality and cultural value.
By combining figures such as Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and the arts, with Sonic, the speedy character from electronic games, Marina suggests a fusion between spiritual fluidity and the frenetic speed of the contemporary world. By interweaving these elements, Marina creates a bridge between the elevated and the popular, the eternal and the ephemeral, and transforms geometric abstraction into an expanded symbolic field in which contemporary cultural experiences acquire a new resonance.
Sonic and Sarasvati, 2024. Acrylic and pigmented pen on canvas, 60 x 40 cm | 23 3/5 x 15 3/4 in (each)
The presence of Artur Lescher, who was Marina’s teacher at Faculdade Santa Marcelina, is marked by the sculpture Observatório, which occupies the center of the first room. Working with granite and shapes that suggest movement and passage, Lescher establishes a contrast between solidity and transience, in line with Marina’s proposal to explore the limits of the sensory.
“Luminous Bodies is an invitation for the viewer to cross boundaries and experiment with new forms of perception,” says Ana Roman in the curatorial text. “Marina Caverzan’s works don’t just occupy physical space; they create passageways to alternative dimensions of feeling, suggesting an expanded reality.”
Finally, in the next room, the atmosphere changes with the Tenebrarium, where the light is gradually reduced to intensify the contemplative experience. The new installation, Kaminoans, takes the artist’s research into installation territory by creating luminous LED shapes. The title refers to a fictional race from Star Wars, inhabitants of an aquatic planet with futuristic architecture, just as the lines of light, in constant movement, create a sensation of continuous transformation, suggesting an almost liquid and ethereal materiality. The room also features a notebook with the artist’s notes, a “Grimoire”, which contains notes, diagrams and graphs composed by the artist, which present the genesis of her work and make reference to medieval collections of spells, rituals and incantations.
Services
Solo exhibition Luminous Bodies, by Marina Caverzan
Curator: Ana Roman
Guest artist: Artur Lescher
Vernissage: November 7, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Visiting days and times: Tuesday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Venue: Janaina Torres Gallery
Address: R. Vitorino Carmilo, 427 – Barra Funda, São Paulo – SP, 01153-000
Free of charge
Age range: free
Accessible to wheelchair users
