MASP

The works of Rivane Neuenschwander, more often than not, approach elements of daily life that flee the common perception and control. The artist works with unexpected materials and processes: spices organized alphabetically and according to their names, the dust gathered from the floor of her own house, soap bubbles, ants devouring a world map made of honey, and so on. The work in the MASP collection is part of a series in which the artist, by making use of childhood memories and accounts of other people, looks for something that can be taken as an artistic experience. In L.M. (Interdict), the artist produced an object-installation from the childhood memories of the fellow Brazilian artist Lais Myrrha. As a child, Myrrha used to hide under the table to draw in a secret place where her parents would not have access to, so as to not reprehend her. The table created by Neuenschwander then keeps the drawings in secret. Yet, as visitors allow themselves to investigate this piece of furniture from other perspectives (and children are privileged subjects in such inquiry, for it is easier for them to access the space underneath the table), they discover its back covered with blackboard paint and a chalk holder. L. M. (Interdict) summons the spectator’s body differently from the frontal appreciation of a painting or photograph, once the piece asks one to lean down in order to draw or visualize the drawings.

— MASP Curatorial Team, 2017

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