Guga Szabzon opens her first solo show

at Millan, Tremor, curated by

Cristiano Raimondi

Using a sewing machine, Guga Szabzon (1987, São Paulo, Brazil) traces lines on felt plates, mostly of large dimensions, building images that resemble cartography studies, landscapes or even drawings that suggest automatism and speed. The works are made in the contrast between gesture and the unpredictability of sewing by means of the machine. In her most recent works, selected for this exhibit, the lines and movements have become autonomous and her production takes on larger supports, with greater freedom of experimentation

(1) Empena, 2022 (28 x 20 1/2 in) (2) Noite, 2022 (32 1/2 x 25 in) (3) Beira, 2022 (69 x 69 1/2 in) (4) Despauta, 2016 (8 x 6 in) (5) Neblina, 2022 (69 1/2 x 78 in) (6) Prumo, 2022 (70 x 58 in) (7) Breu, 2022 (79 x 70 1/2 in). Photos: Ana Pigosso

“The title of the show refers to these gaps, both accidental and intentional, that continuously appear throughout the movements and relationships between the lines that coexist in Guga's works”

Tremor, 2022. Photo: Ana Pigosso

Tremor (2022) - which gives the exhibition its title - is one of the highlights among the new works in the show. The work extends from the wall until it lands on the floor. In it, lines formed with alternating primary colors shatter into traces whose slope is suggested by this progressive passage between movements endowed with spatial direction until complete dispersion. “The title of the show refers to these gaps, accidental and intentional, that continuously appear throughout the movements and relationships between the lines that coexist in Guga's works,” writes Cristiano Raimondi, the show's curator. Such movement is emphasized by the very occupation of the works in the exhibition space, revealing a thought that pervades the entire show.

In her process, Guga Szabzon turns to weaving, writing, and drawing as practices that blend together. For the first time, the artist's notebooks will be presented, which she uses to record dreams, draw, make collages and gather poetic writings and sets of phrases said or heard in her daily life - that later inform her work in fabric, either formally or by recovering phrases that will later name or be woven in the works in felt. The works finally carry the idea of handmade maps that record the sensitive impressions left by minor events (such as Ventania, 2022) and oneiric states, and acknowledge the reconstitution of passages marked by personal contact and the attempts to immediately capture lived experience.

Ventania, 2022 (45 1/2 x 39 in). Photo: Ana Pigosso

Untitled, 2021 (38 x 45 1/2 in). Photo: Ana Pigosso

Guga Szabzon (b. 1987, São Paulo, Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo. Szabzon was one of the artists who performed the activation of works of the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo. In 2019, her work became part of the collection of the Museu de Arte do Rio. She won the solo show Tudo que criamos passa a existir at SESC Ipiranga and O Começo de uma coisa maior e de um dilema at Galeria Superfície, curated by Galciani Neves. In 2021, she held Day and Night. Is it still far away? at Galeria Superfície, curated by Diego Matos.