After his first solo show, held at the Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (IAB) [Institute of Brazilian Architects] in Rio de Janeiro, Antonio Bandeira visited Paris for the first time in 1947, where he would come to live during several periods of his life. In the French capital, he joined the Tachisme art movement (in French, tâche means “stain”). Bandeira’s work, which began with his portrayal of scenes from his hometown and later incorporated geometrical and three-dimensional allusions, evolved into an abstract practice influenced by Surrealist automatism. He often composed figurative metaphors, frequently flowers or landscapes, alluded to in the titles of his works. Flore nocturne [Nocturnal Flower] (1965), painted in Paris during the final phase of his life, depicts luminous fragments of color that break through an intense black and is based on the artist’s experiments with layers of paint and brushstrokes. The canvas exhibits the technique of craquelure, or crackling, obtained through the intentional peeling off of fragments of the last pictorial layer (rather than simply its deterioration), retaining the painting’s other tonalities. Between organization and chaos, the work hints at a plant-like composition in which fruits or flowers emulate an explosion, as if that of a mosaic coming undone. One sees in the painting a constellation of lights that also recall a nocturnal cityscape. Bandeira incorporated drips and splashes of paint into his work, suggesting the gestural painting of Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). But rather than free-flowing splatters, Bandeira’s brushstrokes are compacted as if by an attractive force into a space smaller than the canvas. The wide margin around these splotches of color evidences the composition’s control over impulses of gesture and chance.

— Guilherme Giufrida, assistant curator, MASP, 2018

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