Hosted by Green Art Gallery in Dubai, How to Disappear is a solo show by Brazilian artist Ana Mazzei that unveils a conclusion to her Love Scene Crime Scene, a series of three exhibitions centred around the enigmatic fictional disappearance of a ballerina. The show in Dubai, which beckons viewers to step into the role of investigator, will be open to the public until 20 April 2024.
Drawing from classic detective stories by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza and Agatha Christie as well as modern crime series, Mazzei guides her audience beyond mere sleuthing to a deeper contemplation. The exhibition presents an array of her bronze sculptures (half human, half animal creatures) and about 50 vibrant oil paintings divided into six themes: stage, vases, landscape, cages, beings, and the joker. Together, the paintings form an alphabet of symbols: clues to what has led to the ballerina’s disappearance. They can also be regarded as a sequence of divination cards put together as an attempt to illustrate how to disappear if one ever wanted to. Representing tangible echoes of the dancer’s absence (her devotional objects, as described by Mazzei), the displayed artworks explore what it means to vanish or wish to disappear.
About the artist
Ana Mazzei (b. 1979, São Paulo, Brazil), who resides in her hometown, earned a BFA in Visual Arts from the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) (São Paulo, Brazil) in 2006. In 2010, she graduated from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (Campinas, Brazil) with an MA in Visual Poetics.
Mazzei’s practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, painting, and installations, which she creates utilising diverse mediums including photography, prints, video, and sound. In her art inspired by literature and theatricality, Mazzei focuses on men and the narratives in their inseparable relationships. The spectator is always a crucial part of her work and is often invited to be a performer by engaging with the space. Such use of space prompts the viewer to question how we perform for each other in daily life.
Mazzei’s work has been the subject of several monographic exhibitions: Drama O’Rama: Other Scenes (Glasgow International, Scotland, UK, 2021); Vesuvius (Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo, 2020); Is-Montage! (Carlos/Ishikawa, London, UK, 2019); and Ghost Studies (Almine Rech Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2017), to name a few. The list of the group shows in which the artist has participated includes the 37th Panorama of the Brazilian Art: Under the Ashes, embers (São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Brazil, 2022); Hands, Spells and Papers (La Galerie Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, France, 2018); Neither (Mendes Woods Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, 2017); and 32ª São Paulo’s Internacional Bienal (Incerteza Viva, São Paulo, 2016), among others.
Mazzei’s art pieces can be found in such esteemed collections as Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris, France), Museu de Arte Brasileira (FAAP, São Paulo), Nouveau Musée National (Monaco), Sammlung Philara Collection (Düsseldorf, Germany), and others.
To learn more about How to Disappear, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in visiting The World of Mirrors by Jamal Bassiouni.
