Galeria Fortes Vilaça is pleased to present the exhibition CRTN, by the São Paulo artist Iran do Espírito Santo. The exhibition consists of drawings in indelible magic marker on paper. With formal refinement, the artist created this group of works around a single theme-variations of light on a curtain-explored in the threshold between figuration and pure abstraction.

The exhibition's title is an abbreviation of the word "curtain," which suggests a simplification or idealization of the object. In fact, Espírito Santo's curtain is a geometricized ideal form. Inside this horizontal rectangle-or this window-the images are constructed on the basis of the same procedure, a succession of parallel lines applied to the paper with varying intensities and loads of paint. All the drawings measure 28 x 36 cm. Seen as a group, the drawings have something cinematic about them, like a succession of frames of a single image at different moments. When the lines are applied with constant force and without intervals, the drawing closes completely into a nocturnal darkness. In other cases, the lines are applied in a gentler manner or with alternating intensities, creating the illusion of light and volume.

Other drawings still have white spaces in between the black lines that sometimes seem like a gap or slit, sometimes as if the curtains were open. The double curtain that circumscribes the white space functions like a theater curtain. Thus the fictional nature of the work is revealed, reminding as that narrative is not far away from these works.

Iran is exhibiting this year at inSite_05, San Diego, curated by Adriano Pedrosa; at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, England; and at the 5th Mercosul Biennial, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In 2006 a large solo show of his work will open in the MAXXI, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy, before traveling to the IMMA – Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.