Galpão Fortes Vilaça is pleased to present Trânsito dos Infernos – 2012/2015 [Traffic from Hell/Transit through Hell – 2012/2015], an exhibition by Tiago Carneiro da Cunha, the artist’s first solo show since his participation in the 30th São Paulo Biennial: The Imminence of Poetics in 2012, which gave prominence to his sculpture and a video work. The exhibition brings close to twenty oil paintings, all on canvas, resulting from a new line of research in his career.  Among them is the work which lends its title to the show, a scenario of streaming cars beneath an apocalyptic red sky which sets the critical and dramatic tone of that which will follow.

The fascination for gesture, so intensely explored in the sculptures, reappears in this series via the line, which conveys a corrosive sense of humour, albeit markedly sentimental. Characters and landscapes are readily recognizable, though distorted by emotion, and endowed with visible auras and intentions. His iconoclastic approach evokes the qualities of beauty and ugliness with the same sensuality, to the point where they become completely confounded. The use of a palette of pure, unmixed colours, marked by sharp contrasts rendered by a broad spectrum of densities and intensities, further enhances the dramatic, even sculptural expressiveness, of the works.

The works presented in the exhibition have been intuitively selected by the artist from an extensive body of work produced during the last four years of his research process, wherein he brought spontaneous improvisation into action to approach each one of the paintings in few, quick work sessions, in a long (and at times unpredictable) game of mistakes and successes.

Tiago Carneiro da Cunha was born in São Paulo in 1973 and currently lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His recent exhibitions include: Prospect 2013, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego, USA, 2013); Sobrenatural, Estação Pinacoteca (São Paulo, 2013); 30th São Paulo Biennial: The Imminence of Poetics (2012); Tiago Carneiro da Cunha & Klara Kristalova, SFMOMA (San Francisco, USA, 2011); Liverpool Biennial (2002); Sydney Biennial (2002). He also works as a curator, and has organized the following shows: Law of the Jungle, Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, 2010); Drunkenmasters, Galeria Fortes Vilaça (São Paulo, 2004). His work can be found in several important collections around the world, such as: MAM (Rio de Janeiro), MAR (Rio de Janeiro), Saatchi Collection (London), SFMOMA (San Francisco), TBA21 (Austria), and others.