From June 15 to July 13, 2013, Galeria Vermelho is presenting the exhibition Zero Substantivo [Substantive Zero], by Odires Mlászho, one of Brazil’s representatives at this year’s 55th Venice Biennale.
 
Zero Substantivo combines new and never-before-shown works with other already known ones, presented last year at the 30th Bienal de São Paulo, or at the exhibition that Odires Mlászho [1960] is currently holding at the Brazil Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, running until this November, both curated by Venezuelan curator Luis Pérez-Oramas.
 
The exhibition Zero Substantivo represents the natural development of Odires Mlászho’s research since his last solo show at Vermelho, in 2010, Sopa Nômade. At that exhibition, the written word – one of the artist’s main foci of interest – was totally taken apart and reorganized in groups of letters, with the aim of destabilizing the linear logical reading and understanding of each phrase. This procedure, carried out by techniques such as collage, scarification and camouflage, was used in Sopa Nômade to represent the zero degree of language, a “babbling” lacking “clear semantic meaning,” in Mlászho’s words.
 
Zero Substantivo, which uses the same techniques, goes one step beyond the use of language in the matricial sense used in Sopa Nômade. In the new solo show, typography is used to convey semantic meanings which nonetheless lack proper nouns, as revealed by the title.
 
Riverrun (2013), consists of 14 parts that constitute a long phrase, using two different alphabets. To the straightforward and legible type used in one of these alphabets, Mlászho overlays a second one created with archaic and “tormenting” types, difficult to read and understand.
 
In Técnicas Avançadas para Travessias de Espelhos [Advanced Techniques for Mirror Crossings] (2013), the artist resorts to Letraset, a technique seen in some of his previous works, to create drawings on camouflaged backgrounds of images appropriated from magazines. In Plast White (2013), Mlászho scanned logotypes and created visual poems with them.
 
Pontos Cegos Móveis [Movable Blind Spots] (2013), a work created originally for the exhibition Dentro/Fora, in the Brazil Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, uses protection sleeves for 120-mm photographic film to present 16 different forms of the letter Y. Film protection covers were chosen for this artwork in light of the complexity of information printed on their surface, as well as the role of this material in the photographic process.
 
Zero Substantivo also features the works Ploter Palavra [Word Plotter] with a set of works from the Livros-Moles [Soft Books], Livros-Mochilas [Knapsack Books], and Partituras para Instrumentos Quebrados [Musical Scores for Broken Instruments] series.
 
Odires Mlászho – Selected solo shows: Sopa Nômade, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, 2010; Riverrunreverseflash [12º Cultura Inglesa Festival], Centro Brasileiro Britânico, São Paulo [2008]; O.D.I.R.E.S., Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo [2006]; Fotomontagens Paulistanas, Espaço Nossa Caixa, São Paulo [2004]; A Palidez Iluminada – Foto Arte - Museu de Arte de Brasília – Brasília [2003]. Selected group shows: DENTRO/FORA, 55ª Bienal de Veneza [Pavilhão Brasileiro], Giardini Castello, Veneza [2013]; XXX Bienal Internacional de São Paulo: A Iminência das Poéticas, São Paulo [2012]; Facetime, On Stellar Rays, Nova York [2012]; Geração 00, SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo [2011]; De viaje - Instituto Cervantes, Rio de Janeiro, Roma, Praga [2009]; Recortar e Colar - CRTL_C + CRTL_V, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo [2007]; Veracidade, Museu de Arte Moderna [MAM SP], São Paulo [2006].