A Constellation of Constellations
With this exhibition, the IMS marks and continues its very close relationship with the work of Clarice Lispector, of which it preserves and stores precious evidence, such as a set of various manuscripts, editions, personal objects, and photographs, cared for by its areas of Literature and Photography. The annual celebration of Clarice’s Hour, as well as the website specifically dedicated by the IMS to the life and work of the writer, are today part of the required calendar for everyone interested in Clarice’s universe.
This exhibition starts from Clarice more than focuses on Clarice. And it starts not only from her written work but also from her painted work, which is much less known. By experimenting with painting as one of the possibilities of interrogating the mysteries of creation, Clarice Lispector continues the inner exploration of her labyrinths: each painting, just as each text, each book, is aware of the responsibility of its existence, of the awareness that adds to the materiality of life, of the search for everything that its manifestations hide and reveal. If Clarice’s universes present some of the deepest evidence of the complexity of this “becoming woman” which demonstrates that “one is not born a woman,” starting from her painting and writing enables the formation of fascinating constellations to interrogate models of complexity found in the works of visual artists contemporary with the writer in Brazil. Clarice Constellation proposes intersections, provokes reinterpretations between the universes of a writer and the universes of so many artists who invented their works in the time of Clarice, near or distant from her, formulating complicities that no history of art or literature would recognize.
The possibilities for discovery and reflection to which the curators invite us are only possible due to the support and collaboration of numerous institutions, collectors, and artists, which made it possible to bring together the works and documents presented here. To all of them, IMS expresses its acknowledgment as well as its gratitude for the extraordinary generosity, enthusiasm, and complicity of Paulo Gurgel Valente, the writer’s son. May these hours with Clarice open pathways to reach the “most difficult thing in the world,” the “innermost being of the person” – this aim stated by the writer when expressing her desire for painting – now redefined and contextualized by the constellation of constellations brought together by this exhibit.
João Fernandes
IMS Artistic Director