paul ramirez jonas and berna reale | cross-cuts 2

Paul Ramirez Jonas has produced an entire repertoire of works based on historical facts as part of collective imagination, drawing from themes such as Magellan's world circumvallation, NASA's exploration of the Moon, the early history of aviation, world's time and weather zones, anthems, chance games, etc.

Berna Reale is one of Brazil's most important contemporary artists. She is mostly known for her performance based work, which she has been developing since the 1990s. She first received public attention in 2006 at the 25th Art Salon of Pará, following her presentation of Cerne. The work consists of a photographic intervention carried out at the meat market located in Ver-o-Peso, a traditional center for street markets and stands bustling with tourists and local shoppers in Belém, Brazil.

Since then, the artist has been exploring and developing the idea of using her own body as the central aesthetic element of her images and performances, through which she aims to denounce social problems and injustices. Her work critically engages with the theme of violence, exploring its symbolic and physical representations, and the inevitable shadow of censorship, as a means of revealing the importance of image-making when it comes to maintaining freedom of thought. The strength of Berna Reale's imagery lies in eliciting a desire to get closer, countered by a sense of repulsion - an ambivalence reminiscent of the irony in Brazilian society's fascination for and disgust of violence.

Importantly, Berna Reale's work has come to heavily depend on photography as a tool for not only registering, but also perpetuating and disseminating her actions once the performance is over. 

Berna Reale was born in 1965 in Belém do Pará, Brazil, where she lives and works. Recent solo shows include: While You Laugh, at Galeria Nara Roesler (2019), in New York, NY, USA; Festa, at Viaduto das Artes (2019), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Deformation, at Bergkirche (2017), and Berna Reale – Über uns / About Us, at Kunsthaus (2017), both in Wiesbaden, Germany; Berna Reale: Singing in the Rain, at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMoCA) (2016), in Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Vazio de nós, at Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) (2013), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Recent group shows include: 3rd Beijing Photo Biennial (2018), China; 56th Venice Biennale (2015), Italy; Brasile. Il coltello nella carne, at Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea Milano (PAC-Milano) (2018), in Milan, Italy; Video Art in Latin America, II Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (II PST: LA/LA), at LAXART (2017), in Hollywood, CA, USA; Artistas comprometidos? Talvez, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) (2014), in Lisbon, Portugal. Her works are included in important institutional collections, such as: Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and JW Collection, Atlanta, GA, USA. 

Paul Ramirez Jonas was born in 1965 in Pomona, CA, USA. He currently lives and works in New York, NY, USA. Recent solo exhibitions include: El Palacio de Cristal, at Museo Jumex (2018), in Mexico City, Mexico; Half-Truths, at New Museum of Contemporary Art (2017), in New York, NY, USA; Atlas, Plural, Monumental, at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) (2017), in Houston, TX, USA, and Public Trust, site-specific in Dudley Square, Kendall Square, and Copley Square, in Boston, MA, USA. He has participated in the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009), Italy ; in the 28th Bienal de São Paulo (2008), Brazil  and in the 7th and 10th editions of the Mercosur Biennial (2009 and 2015), in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Recent group exhibitions include: New Monuments for New Cities, at the High Line (2019), in New York, NY, USA, at Bentway, in Toronto, Canada, at 606, in Chicago, IL, USA, at Waller Creek, in Austin, TX, USA, at Buffalo Bayou, in Houston, TX, USA; Metrópole, at Galeria Nara Roesler (2017), in São Paulo, Brazil; Núcleo Nómada/05 Arte contemporáneo emergente en Honduras, at Centro Cultural de España en Tegucigalpa (CCET) (2015), in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. His works are part of numerous institutional collections, such as: Blanton Museum, Austin, TX, USA; Bronx Museum, New York, NY, USA; Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden; New Museum, New York, NY, USA.