Galatea (São Paulo, BR), in collaboration with LLANO (Mexico City, MX) presents Dani Cavalier: Tramadas, the artist’s first in- ternational exhibition, opening on April 23 in Mexico City. The exhibition will be on view until June 6th and brings together works that are part of Cavalier’s research into what she calls “solid paintings,” in which the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and installation are challenged through the juxtaposition of blocks of color in reused fabrics.
While grounded in the structural elements of conventional painting, such as canvas, stretcher, color, and composition—these solid paintings subvert them. Instead of paint and brush, the artist uses colored Lycra scraps collected from production waste from the period when she ran a beachwear brand. The fabric operates simultaneously as support and image, resulting in works that activate a direct relationship with space and the viewer.
Within this body of work, certain series stand out for expanding the formal and conceptual possibilities of her practice. In As Tensas [The Tense], Cavalier works with larger pieces of Lycra. The lines are not cut but constructed through the elastic force of the mate- rial as it is stapled to the stretcher—a traditional gesture in canvas preparation that precedes and already constitutes the painting itself. The transitions between colors evoke both the physicality explored by Neoconcretism, in dialogue with Lygia Clark, and a proximity to the folds and inflections of the body.
The Marquinha [Tan Line] series, in turn, stems from the observation that even in industrial materials, subtle tonal variations can occur between different production batches of Lycra. From this, the artist develops compositions that explore variations of white on white and black on black, incorporating into the title a reference to the marks left by the sun on the skin.
Dani Cavalier: Tramadas thus presents a selection of works from different moments in the artist’s production, alongside new pieces that further her research into solid paintings and the use of Lycra, through the reconfiguration of discarded materials from the fashion industry and the formal possibilities that emerge from them.
