Known for his figurative work and now showing only abstract paintings Rodrigo Bivar presents his new solo show entitled Lapa at Galeria Millan. There are about 15 unpublished oil paintings - large, medium and small scale - offering a sort of “mental game” with the space found in the painting; the structure remains with colors and shapes that seem to move around the canvas.
Rodrigo Bivar has been working on his abstract raid for two year now. The change did not only imply an aesthetic transformation, - where, for example, the color is freed from its secondary use in image and assumes the protagonist role in the painting – but since there was also a renewal in his art making, the process becomes essential.
The preparation of the paint also changed: now, the oil paint has egg yolk which adds more transparency consequently increasing the light range found on the works. The beeswax, used by the artist, removes the excess shine of the paint. In each work, Rodrigo searches to counteract the speed in the apprehension of the images with the slowness in which they were produced.
The key for the show was the traditional Lapa neighborhood, west side of São Paulo, where Bivar maintains his studio. The architecture of the region – walls, doors, and windows – decay and in its place, new colors and shapes occupy the painting’s space.
If on one hand, Lapa denotes the rupture in his artistic trajectory, on the other, it demonstrates the loving relationship that the artist has with the district that he works in, he emphasizes, “Without even realizing, Lapa and its colors stepped into my paintings”.