This text is an introduction to an exhibition of work by the painter Paulo Pasta at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), written by the art critic Lorenzo Mammì. The writer emphasizes Pasta’s pictorial materiality, pointing out particular characteristics of his work, such as the links that appear in the forms, especially in color organized into tonal structures. Mammì describes the relationship between the artist’s subject, color, and form in the following terms: “In Pasta’s paintings, the subject is primary, while the sign does not take form.” 

This is the introduction to an exhibition of works by Paulo Pasta at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP). The exhibition was the result of an art scholarship granted by the actor/entrepreneur Émile Eddé in his will. From that time on, the artist had a strong influence over the painting practiced in the 1980s in São Paulo (in terms of both form and materials) by the Casa 7 group, which included Nuno Ramos, Marco Giannotti, and Sérgio Sister.

Paulo Pasta (b. 1959) appeared on the Brazilian art scene in the second half of the 1980s with abstract painting that stayed on a course in opposition to that identified by the movement known as Geração 80. Given the independent path chosen by the artist, Pasta’s pictorial investigations have maintained their focus on the problems of light and color as they affect painting. Among his individual exhibitions, some important ones were those held at the galleries Camargo Villaça (São Paulo, 1996 and 1999) and Anna Maria Niemeyer (Rio de Janeiro, 1997 and 2001), as well as one at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 2008). He participated in two presentations of the Panorama da Arte Brasieira (1989 and 1998) and in the São Paulo Biennial in 1994.

Lorenzo Mammì earned his master’s degree in Florence, Italy (Materie Letterarie della Università degli Studi di Firenze, 1984), and his doctorate in philosophy in Brazil at the Universidade de São Paulo in 1998 (USP). He is currently a professor at the same institution. Although his experience is primarily in the arts (especially music), he works in other specialties such as contemporary art and patristic philosophy. As a curator, he distinguished himself in his approach to coordinating the project Arte Concreta Paulista, and for curating the exhibition Concreta ’56 (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 2006). He has also published various books: Volpi (São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 1999), Carlito Carvalhosa (São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 2000), and Iole de Freitas: Sobrevôo, as well as organizing an anthology of texts (São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 1999, 2000, and 2002).

Mammì also wrote about another member of Casa 7, “Nuno Ramos” [doc. no. 1111263], and on theoretical issues and sculptor José Resende in “Contrações do espaço” [doc. no. 1111280]. To compare the pictorial approaches of Paulo Pasta and that of the Geração 80, see two essays by Sônia Salzstein: “As palabras e as coisas” [doc. no. 1110769], which analyzes the work of Leonilson, and “Questões de materialidade” [doc. no. 1111260], which focuses on the paintings of Sérgio Sister, Nuno Ramos, Fábio Miguez, and Pasta himself.