All artworks by Malu Ribeiro
THE BOWLER HAT TRILOGY+1 & BOHEMIAN NARRATIVES - Magical Realism (2018-2020) • 18 artworks
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Shifting gears in the last year and a half, Malu has been taking her skills and passion for color, light,[...]
Shifting gears in the last year and a half, Malu has been taking her skills and passion for color, light, and textures, perspectival and anatomical distortions, and cubism, to explore the characters she sees in her home (Europe) away from home (US). She brings a more contemporary touch to old themes, with elements of outsider art still playing with the issues of flatness versus spatial relationships in visual expression. Nostalgic for previous eras, even some which may not have quite existed beyond her imagination, she brings alive to us, characters of the taverns and streets of old European towns still observable in their fading probable extinction. Particularly night life pushes these characters out of their hiding places and brings them to the old and bohemian parts of towns ...Malu is also bringing her own personal experiences into these quaint and picturesque narratives in her trilogy "The Bowler Hat" ("The Kimono, the Bowler Hat & the Green Armchair", "The Kimono, the Bowler Hat & the Green Armchair, He Comes no More", & "Mary Magdalene, Discarded") - which might turn into a longer series - is a clear example of bringing her life into the scenes and mood of where she inhabits: her studio, her room, the taverns she's a regular at, the public square where men waste their lives at card playing, the eternal earthy woman whose life marked its wounds on flesh ...
QUARANTINE SERIES • 7 artworks
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During the infamous CoV mandated semi and full quarantine lockdown of 2020 in Portugal, Malu at times[...]
During the infamous CoV mandated semi and full quarantine lockdown of 2020 in Portugal, Malu at times only had her room and a limited view from her window, to stare at a saddened nearly dead world, her relentless soul near gave up, but she reacted, claiming life and a future, she invades her work with colors and poetry, a yearning for living ...
Life of Sand, People of Clay (Magical Realism) • 18 artworks
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Vida de Areia, Gente de Barro (barro refers to mud but also to clay/ceramics) - I like to write the[...]
Vida de Areia, Gente de Barro (barro refers to mud but also to clay/ceramics) - I like to write the words in Portuguese too, because the words are so sonorous. In my double life as single person and mother, between Brooklyn and O Porto, and so many other things of life that bring duplicity, this album puts together works spanning decades but all connected in theme and earthy colors or materials. This gallery expresses a contrast, a dichotomy, not dissimilar to my double life. The dichotomy of the ephemeral quality of life, and how simultaneously, time seems to come to a halt, or at least, come to a slow unravelling in the lull of an afternoon or dusk, the stupor of heat or alcoholism, etc ... My narratives involve characters who become "salt sculptures', or clay pots, frozen in time, while most things around them are shifting, perceptually or moving ... So we've both the instability or temporality of the environment in contrast to the perennial, almost eternal quality of quintessential characters which seem to emerge from the past, which I still observe alive and living in the paths of my travels. The landscapes become movements or ruins, but the people become clay pots or still-life/s.
I'm attempting to describe the ephemeral while holding on to moments which perhaps never quite existed ... a nostalgia for a time that never was ... as the Portuguese saying goes, "the past never passes", the past lives in the present, and therefore, future ... a narrative of people who have little material comfort or wealth, but maintain a dignified presence, more alive than most, because they're in the now, and now ... My spaces may be made of water or slippery sand, shifting perspectives, but my people are made of clay or rusty metal, like pots, they're vessels of history, of time, of human experience ... Cubism and distortions assist me in incorporating such elements of existentialism, it's a if they help me create a form of magical realism in visual form ...
I'm attempting to describe the ephemeral while holding on to moments which perhaps never quite existed ... a nostalgia for a time that never was ... as the Portuguese saying goes, "the past never passes", the past lives in the present, and therefore, future ... a narrative of people who have little material comfort or wealth, but maintain a dignified presence, more alive than most, because they're in the now, and now ... My spaces may be made of water or slippery sand, shifting perspectives, but my people are made of clay or rusty metal, like pots, they're vessels of history, of time, of human experience ... Cubism and distortions assist me in incorporating such elements of existentialism, it's a if they help me create a form of magical realism in visual form ...
STILL-LIFE/S (Not so Still Magical Realism) • 10 artworks
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With a still-life there's less pressure to invent, to come up with a theme, to have something to say[...]
With a still-life there's less pressure to invent, to come up with a theme, to have something to say ... one avoids the block of the empty white canvas as soon as one begins to make marks, one mark brings the response of the next mark, and so on, in a dialogue between maker, material and design ... making the process more intuitive and less conscious ... suddenly, I realize that there is plenty to say, among others, the visual dialogue with makers from the past, is a relevant to have ... My still-life/s are filled with mood, references to things that fascinate me and recurring themes, as well as personal objects which mean far more than the eye meets. For example, the guitar for many years represented a life partner who was a musician, later, just a love for the shape and aesthetic beauty of the instrument, vessels and jugs are linked to fertility and motherhood among other things such as rusticity and permanency ... statues/figures refer to rituals, contemplation, and all of them have a moody atmosphere ...
THE GARDEN (Magical Realism) • 5 artworks
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Playing with color as light, and perceptions of spacial and temporal relativeness or subjectivity, with[...]
Playing with color as light, and perceptions of spacial and temporal relativeness or subjectivity, with personal life references as well as a certain exoticism, Malu creates a perceptional imaginary world where time is slippery, while there’s an attempt at holding on to it, in the lull of an afternoon or rainy day, in the dusk of a day's end ...
GATES OF PERCEPTION - Earlier (Magical Realism) Works • 5 artworks
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These themes will repeat throughout her work, but particularly with the gallery named, Life of Sand.[...]
These themes will repeat throughout her work, but particularly with the gallery named, Life of Sand. However, during these years Malu explored flatter and smoother surfaces, more literal forms of synthetic cubism, colors are light or temperatures. Still, personal references and themes permeate the work.
PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE COEXIST - THE EPHEMERAL (Early 2000s) • 4 artworks
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Large murals or installations, made of monoprints (these are normally created with electric dremel on[...]
Large murals or installations, made of monoprints (these are normally created with electric dremel on plexyglass, ink and rubbing, etc) made spontaneously with a general idea of an image in mind. They are created purposefully offregister, which means the images off the press do not match perfectly its neighbor, the image comes to life as if in a puzzle, choosing the prints which match best the location, so print number 3 might be side by side with print number 12, the large overall image controls where the smaller units go, to create a whole, an image of movement, of ephemeral nature, natural phenomena, and so on ...
EARLY WORKS, "Magical Realism", elements of expressionism (a selection) • 12 artworks
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One of the hardest things for a spontaneous, sincere and searching artist, is to find that narrow focus[...]
One of the hardest things for a spontaneous, sincere and searching artist, is to find that narrow focus and consistency galleries not only expect us to present in a website portfolio, but they themselves desire to present our work in such a focused path. Well, that is highly artificial, perhaps not so difficult to a young contemporary artist who has been conditioned in this manner by schooling or market forces, and/or uses limited elements of art & design. However, for a searching artist, it is almost impossible to narrow one's investigation to just a few elements of art and design. Even famous artists we know of, had their escapades out of the main style they seem to be researching, or by which we identify them; at times, they follow/ed two, even more, quite distinct paths/styles, examples are JM Turner, who on the side of his abstracted expressionistic landscapes, made a collection of watercolor erotica; or say, Picasso; the most obvious example. Toward the last years of his synthetic cubism phase (later he'd return to it), he was deeply embedded in his neoclassical phase, exploring monumental linear classical and semi-classical aesthetics and themes in drawing, prints and paintings.
In this website I'm presenting the highlights of my entire artistic career and some paintings do not fit particularly well among the other series/galleries. Some work is academic (graduate school) or semi-academic, some almost realistic, some expressionistic in nature, and almost always some element of distortion or synthetic cubism is present inconspicuously, which is innate to my very being!
In this website I'm presenting the highlights of my entire artistic career and some paintings do not fit particularly well among the other series/galleries. Some work is academic (graduate school) or semi-academic, some almost realistic, some expressionistic in nature, and almost always some element of distortion or synthetic cubism is present inconspicuously, which is innate to my very being!
Recognition
Editor's Pick
The artist's works have been noticed by the editorial staff
The artist's works have been noticed by the editorial staff
Professional Artist
Exercises the profession of artist as a main activity
Exercises the profession of artist as a main activity
Biography
Malu Ribeiro is a Brazilian born US-Swiss citizen who has lived in nine different countries since a tender age, including a long residence in the US. She began formal art training attending assiduously the atelier of the Argentinian surrealist painter/printmaker A. Castro Couso during high school in Vigo, Galicia. During those 4 years, she participated in group exhibitions with his atelier at the Cultural Center of Caixa de Galicia, beginning to show at 17 years of age. After moving to the US, she pursued a BFA in Theater at URI. Years later, after living in Paris for three years, she returned and completed an MFA in Print-making at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She also became a NY State Certified Visual Arts & Theater teacher; taught high school, pre-college and college. Malu lived most of her life in NY where she reared mostly by herself her two daughters. Malu received honors and awards in juried competitions, including participation at the Pratt Fine Arts Symposium organized by sculptor Prof. Jillian Jagger, and guest speaker Laura Hopman (then, curator of the Depart. of Drawing & Paper Arts at MOMA). She received Honorable Mention at the New York/New England Talent competition organized by University of Massachusetts. She also received a Merit Award at the International Juried Show, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, by art historian and critic, Prof. Donald Kuspit. Malu taught for many years, and was only able to return full-time to art in 2011, when she founded her own nomadic arts center, Galeria Eslabon, through which she curated many events, including the pop-up Eslabon Spring Arts Salon at the unique Firehouse Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2014. In 2015 through 2017, she attended an MA program in History of Art & Criticism at SBU. She has exhibited internationally in several solo and group exhibits; her work is in private collections in NY and MD (US), also in Italy, Greece, UK, and Portugal among others. Recently, Malu participated in Art Fair Carnavalesquewith Van der Plas Gallery, NY (2020); KUNST2021, with Galeria Zero at the Lite-Haus Cultural Project & Center, Berlin; and Contemporary Art Week art fair, Madrid (Feb. 2022). Currently preparing for ALL YOU NEED IS ART, Contemporary Art Festival, Mar.23-27th, Lisbon, PT.
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Nationality:
UNITED STATES
- Date of birth : 1972
- Artistic domains: Works by professional artists,
- Groups: Professional Artist Contemporary American Artists
Influences
Education
2015 - 2017
MA Art History & Criticism
Stony Brook,
NY,
United States
2001 - 2003
NY State Board Teacher Certifications in Visual Arts & Theater
NYC,
NY,
United States
1998 - 1996
MFA in Print-making (Painting & Ceramics side focus)
Brooklyn,
NY,
United States
1990 - 1987
BFA in Theater
Kingston,
RI,
United States
1987 - 1984
INTRODUCTION to Fine Arts & Painting (Atelier A. Castro Couso; teenage years)
Vigo,
Galicia,
Spain
Artist value certified
No data available yet
Achievements
No data available yet
Activity on Artmajeur
Last modification date : May 12, 2023
(Member since 2019)
Image views: 49,998
Artworks by Malu Ribeiro added to favorite collections: 111
Latest News
All the latest news from contemporary artist Malu Ribeiro
Added Apr 7, 2022
AVA ART FESTIVAL OSAKA
Enokojima Art, Culture and Creative Center (ENOCO)
Tuesday
26
April
2022
Sunday
1
May
2022
Art show, festival at cultural center in Osaka, Japan
Added Apr 7, 2022
CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL LISBON
CORDOARIA NACIONAL, Lisbon
Wednesday
23
March
2022
Wednesday
27
April
2022
ART FAIR
Added Sep 13, 2021
MADRID CONTEMPORARY ART WEEK
Madrid, Spain
Wednesday
23
February
2022
Sunday
27
February
2022
Join us for refreshingly meaningful affordable art fair during Madrid Contemporary Art Week. See you there!
Added Sep 13, 2021
KUNST BERLIN - Galeria Zero in Berlin - art fair
LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum, Mareschstraße, Berlin, Germany
Friday
15
October
2021
Wednesday
20
October
2021
Added Sep 13, 2021
Art Fair Carnavalesque
Van Der Plas Gallery, Orchard Street, New York, NY, USA
Wednesday
15
January
2020
Friday
31
January
2020
Group show at chill Van der Plas Gallery, Manhattan.
Added Sep 16, 2019
BIOGRAPHY
Malu Ribeiro is a Brazilian born US-Swiss painter and art-maker who spent over 30 yrs of her life in the US, and lived in 8 other countries, speaks several languages. Her formal visual arts training began in Vigo, Spain, at the age of 16, attending assiduously the atelier of Argentinian surrealist, Alberto Castro Couso. At 19 she moved to the US obtaining a BFA in Theater at URI. After living in Paris for some years she returned and completed an MFA at Pratt Institute, NY. She participated in numerous juried events and group exhibitions, receiving the honor to exhibit of one of her mural printmaking installations at Pratt Institute's FA Dean’s office; was selected for a juried FA Symposium in NY, organised by the sculptor professor Jillian Jagger, with juror Donald Kuspit, and participation among others, by Laura Hopman, then, curator of the Drawing and Paper Arts Department at MOMA; she also participated in the NY/New England Talent annual national competition at the University of Massachusetts. earning honorable mention; and later, a merit award at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, at a juried international competition. Her work is in collections in Italy, UK, Brazil, US etc. More recently, she was part of an MA program at SBU in Art History and Criticism. She lives currently between Porto, PT and Brooklyn, NY, involved in international exhibitions.
Reviews and comments
Olá Malu, Estive olhando para o vosso trabalho e, por alguns momentos, fiquei paralisado com o traço marcante, vigoroso, de cores puras e com muita intensidade, pareceu-me que havia entrado, particularmente, no teu mundo. - Sérgio Oliveira(S.Alves), um brasileiro que vive em Lisboa a 20 anos.
Un travail où se mêle cohérence chromatique et une certaine douceur romantique...bravo à vous pour votre travail et l’ensemble de votre production.
Bonjour Malu! Une belle maîtrise de la couleur et une composition chaleureuse et prégnante! Très beau! Belle continuation à vous!
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