ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:
Maria Lira Marques
by Ross Karlan, Director of Art Muse LA in Miami, 1 March 2023.
Image Credit: Installation view of the exhibition Maria Lira Marques: Recent Works, 21 August–30 October 2021. Gomide & Co (São Paulo, Brazil). direct link.
Art Muse’s March artist spotlight is an artist who brings unique perspective to the international contemporary art scene, and one that the Art Muse LA team has our eye on for that very reason.
Maria Lira Marques (b. 1945, Araçuaí, Brazil) was born and raised in the Jequitinhonha Valley in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The valley is greatly isolated from any of the closest major cities like Belo Horizonte or Salvador and is one of the poorest areas of Brazil. Nevertheless, the Jequitinhonha Valley cradled an artistic vision for Lira that led her to receive national and international recognition acclaim, and a spotlight at 2022’s Art Basel Miami Beach in a specially curated show at the booth of São Paulo-based gallery Gomide & Co.
Image Credit: Maria Lira Marques (b. 1945, Araçuaí, Brazil). Untitled, 2018-2019. Natural pigments on paper, 5 7/8 x 8 1/4 in. [each] (16 x 24 cm [each]). Gomide & Co (São Paulo, Brazil). Photo by Ding Musa. direct link.
Image Credit: Maria Lira Marques (b. 1945, Araçuaí, Brazil). Untitled, 2019-2020. Natural pigments on paper, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 in. (16 x 24 cm). Gomide & Co (São Paulo, Brazil). direct link.
Lira’s use of warm, natural colors is comforting, and her simple designs hold their own complexities that differ considerably from other contemporary artists that appear in major art fairs or “white box” exhibition spaces. But it is Maria Lira Marques’s story and the techniques she uses that add more layers of depth to her work and a whole new dimension to her style.
Lira’s mother worked in ceramics, passing out nativity scenes during the Christmas season. Her father was a shoemaker whose wax Lira used to make her first sculptures as a child. As a young artist, she pulled from her African and Indigenous roots, both in terms of what she made and how she made it, using traditional techniques passed down for generations and acquiring knowledge from local artisans. For much of her early career, Lira was known for her ceramic masks, busts, and other reflections of her African heritage.
Image Credit: Maria Lira Marques (b. 1945, Araçuaí, Brazil). Untitled, 2021. Natural pigments on stone, 8 x 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (20 x 14 x 9 cm). Gomide & Co (São Paulo, Brazil). Photo by Edouard Fraipont. direct link.
Outside of ceramics, Lira moved to paint in the 1990s, though it didn’t quite look like typical works where artists turn to oil or acrylic paints on stretched canvases or wood boards. She brings her knowledge of the natural world: soil, mud, plants, and other materials, to her painting technique, using only natural pigments from the world around her. The result is a color palette that not only reflects the Jequitinhonha Valley but also embodies the Valley itself.
A predominant theme of her painting is “Meus bichos do sertão” or “My beasts of the sertão.” The “sertão” refers to the dry, arid backlands of Northeastern Brazil. Lira’s use of the word “my” is intentional and important since these animals are not real but rather her creations from her dreams and imagination. In a short documentary produced by Gomide & Co, Lira explains that even if something might look like a chicken or deer, it is not since the animals come entirely from her mind. Yet even knowing that these creatures are not real, her style gives viewers the impression that they are a part of the land and its history no matter what. And, as you gaze at Maria Lira’s work, it is difficult not to get close, realizing that the simple 2-dimensional figures are full of texture and life from the natural pigments she uses.