LAMB is delighted to present The Time and Place that We Part by Renata de Bonis (Brazil, 1984). This series of small-scaled paintings spring from her time as a resident at L21 Gallery in Mallorca in June 2022.
During her residency, de Bonis travelled the island embracing the quietness and stillness of the environment. She was impressed by the arid landscapes and the crystalline waters, understanding that contrast as a ‘beautiful dichotomy’. She discovered the island by taking long walks and endless bus journeys, allowing time to slow down, enabling her to grasp all the nuances of the island. These observations are encapsulated in a series of paintings depicting natural and urban landscapes. The colour palette includes sandy tones and turquoise, blue shades evoking the quiet of the summer months in the Mediterranean. The oil brushstrokes are soft and slightly blurred suggesting ephemerality in those images, conveying a feeling of nostalgia.
These paintings reflect upon the artist’s latest investigations: she became interested in the idea of loneliness from a metaphysical standpoint and in the concept of the sublime. In her practice – and specifically, in the works showcased in The Time and Place that We Part – Renata de Bonis attempts to make the viewer aware of the existing paradox within the relationship of our contemporary society with nature: she presents the landscapes in Mallorca as places where life occurs slowly, hence creating friction with the Western urban modus vivendi where reality is dominated by speed and immediacy.
The Time and Place that We Part is on the one hand, a compilation of the artist’s experiences: small, self-contained paintings which document her journeys around the island. However, it is also an invitation to the viewer to embark on an introspective journey, questioning our way of living and bringing awareness to our relationship with the environment.
Renata De Bonis (Brazil, 1984) lives and works in São Paulo. She began her career in the early 2000s, and her work involves multiple languages, such as painting, installations and sound projects, which end up juxtaposing different temporalities, such as the time of the geological, astronomical and environmental spheres, with the accelerated time of the mundane affairs of modern civilization, in an attempt to promote reflections and critical and urgent apprehensions linked to our current violent relationship with the environment. She has participated in residencies in Germany, Brazil, United States of America, Netherlands, Italy and Iceland. In 2015 she received an award from the Künstlerhaus Lukas in Germany that encouraged her research on the landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich. She is also featured in the book Pintura Brasileira Séc XXI by the publisher Cobogó.
