British artist Sarah Morris makes films and paintings about cities. With her lens, she negotiates access into areas most of us can't (Beijing's Olympic venues before the games, the red carpet in Los Angeles, the White House when Bill Clinton was in residency) and records life via subtle camera angles and snippy editing. Inspired by her findings, she creates colourful, abstract canvases in household paint of each city in parallel.
Her latest body of work, entitled Bye Bye Brazil, is on show at the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey. Carnival, modernist architecture, beaches and Brahma beer are the subjects of her 11th film 'Rio'. Familiar subjects all, but Morris' quirky detailing and the jarringly hypnotic soundtrack by fellow artist Liam Gillick, give them a fresh spin.
Morris interviewed Niemeyer at his office before he died. There's a shot of his wheelchair in the hallway, and though we see him speak, his words are drowned out by the music. His architecture, and the way people operate within it form the backbone to the film. There's a painter touching up the ceiling of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, and the ebullient 'Winner's Parade' in his Sambadrome carnival stadium. It's long for an art film (88 minutes) and Morris spent many months in Rio exploring the psychology of the mega city.
Niemeyer's geometric and architectural lines are also present in the canvases. Morris calls them 'diagrams' and cites Bossa Nova album covers, Roberto Burle Marx and Lina Bo Bardi as additional inspirations.
The public spaces in Bye Bye Brazil may still only be known by relatively few, but with Brazil firmly on the radar for the Olympics and the World Cup next year, they will soon be familiar to every household. And with a new White Cube up and running in Sao Paulo, Morris' current body of work is a neat tie-in. Although the exhibition won't be shown in Sao Paulo, the film will be screened in Rio on 3 September to coincide with Art Rio 13.
Sarah Morris is presenting her latest body of work, entitled 'Bye Bye Brazil', at the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey, London
Morris makes films and paintings about cities, creating colourful, abstract canvases in household paint of each city in parallel
'Globo' [Rio], 2013. © Sarah Morris; Courtesy: White Cube
Carnival, Niemeyer, modernist architecture, beaches and Brahma beer are the subjects of Morris' 11th film 'Rio'. Familiar subjects all, but Morris's quirky detailing and the jarringly hypnotic soundtrack by fellow artist Liam Gillick, give them a fresh spin. Watch a teaser of the film here
Niemeyer's geometric and architectural lines are present in the canvases. Morris calls them 'diagrams' and cites Bossa Nova album covers, Roberto Burle Marx and Lina Bo Bardi as additional inspirations
'Banco Safra' [Rio], 2012. © Sarah Morris; Courtesy: White Cube
'Academia Militar' [Rio], 2012. © Sarah Morris; Courtesy: White Cube
A film still from 'Rio'
The film will also be screened in Rio on 3 September to coincide with Art Rio 13
ADDRESS
144 – 152 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ
-
Nela is London's new stage for open-fire gastronomyA beloved Amsterdam import brings live-fire elegance to The Whiteley’s grand revival
-
How we host: with Our Place founder, Shiza ShahidWelcome, come on in, and take a seat at Wallpaper*s new series 'How we host' where we dissect the art of entertaining. Here, we speak to Our Place founder Shiza Shahid on what makes the perfect dinner party, from sourcing food in to perfecting the guest list, and yes, Michelle Obama is invited
-
Matteo Thun carves a masterful thermal retreat into the Canadian RockiesBasin Glacial Waters, a project two decades in the making, finally surfaces at Lake Louise, blurring the boundaries between architecture and terrain
-
Riccardo Dalisi’s first UK retrospective opens at east London gallery Spazio LeoneSpazio Leone draws together six decades of the Italian visionary’s work, from whimsical coffee pots to radical community workshops
-
Inside the fight to keep an iconic Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the UK‘Sculpture with Colour’ captures a pivotal moment in Hepworth’s career. When it was sold to an overseas buyer, UK institutions launched a campaign to keep it in the country
-
Thirty-five years after its creation, Lynn Hershman Leeson’s seminal video is as poignant as everLynn Hershman Leeson’s 'Desire Inc', at 243 Luz in Margate, blurs the boundaries between art and reality
-
A bespoke 40m mixed-media dragon is the centrepiece of Glastonbury’s new chill-out areaNew for 2025 is Dragon's Tail – a space to offer some calm within Glastonbury’s late-night area with artwork by Edgar Phillips at its heart
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Caroline Walker's new show speaks to women everywhere, including me'Everything related to my life with young children, because it's such an all encompassing experience,' the artist says of her new show at the Hepworth Wakefield
-
Cassi Namoda is rethinking stained-glass windows at Turner Contemporary in MargateThe artist drew from an eclectic range of references when considering the traditional medium for a Turner Contemporary window overlooking the beach – she tells us more
