sérgio sister

Sergio Sister (b. 1948, São Paulo, Brazil) started painting in the late 1960’s, at same time when he was working as journalist and bacame engaged with political action. In 1970, Sister was arrested for his militancy. While detained for 19 months at the Tiradentes Prison, in São Paulo, Sister attended painting workshops held at the institution. As a part of Geração 80, Sister revisits an ancient theme in painting: the interplay between surface and three-dimensionality, in an attempt to liberate painting in space. What has marked his production at that time was the superimposition of autonomous chromatic layers coexisting harmoniously side by side.

Today, his work combines painting and sculpture. He uses supports derived from found structures and from systems designed to serve our everyday needs, as we can see in the Ripas series, produced since the late 1990s (strips), and in Caixas series, produced since 2009, whose names are appropriate of the manufactured products from which they derive. These are sculptural paintings made from found wooden beams that resemble crates, porticos, or window frames. Sister paints the beams different colors and assembles them into configurations that allow various depths, shadows, and experiences of color to emerge.

Sergio Sister lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Recent individual exhibitions include: Pintura e vínculo, at Nara Roesler (2022), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Then and Now, at Nara Roesler (2019), in New York, USA; Sérgio Sister: o sorriso da cor e outros engenhos, at Instituto Ling (2019), in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Sérgio Sister, at Kupfer Gallery (2017), in London, UK; Sergio Sister: Malen Mit Raum, Schatten und Luft, at Galerie Lange + Pult (2016), in Zurich, Switzerland; Expanded Fields, at Nymphe Projekte (2016), in Berlin, Germany. He was featured in the 9th and 25th editions of Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (1967, 2002). Recent group shows include: Entre tanto, at Casa de Cultura do Parque (2020), in São Paulo, Brazil; A linha como direção, at Pina Estação (2019), in São Paulo, Brazil; The Pencil is a Key: Art by Incarcerated Artists, at The Drawing Center (2019), in New York, USA; Géométries Américaines, du Mexique à la Terre de Feu, at Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain (2018), in Paris, France; AI-5 50 anos – Ainda não terminou de acabar, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake (ITO) (2018), in São Paulo, Brazil; and MAC USP no século XXI – A era dos artistas, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC USP) (2017), in São Paulo, Brazil (2017). His work is part of many importat collections such as:François Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy; Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, among others.