» Clarissa Tossin

Clarissa Tossin Brazil, 1973

The notion of gesture is the primary impulse behind my work. My videos, photographs, installations, sculptures and drawings are the result of subtle gestures that intend to reveal what goes unseen or unexamined, be it architectural similarities between a settlement in the Amazon forest and a small town in Michigan or the intensive labor required to clean a pristine modernist government building in Brasília. Architecture, as a manifestation of identity, ideology and economic power is of great interest to me, as it is to investigate the invisible supporting structures of modernity, urban life and capitalism. In dialogue with these concerns are my interest in indexical processes and the cultural and historical connotations of a given material. My investment in indexicality stems from its intrinsic relationship to our bodies and therefore proximity to the real. Not unlike what happens with history and its material evidences. My works on paper exist in a place between bi and tridimensionality, as they usually hold object-like qualities. Double-sided prints, ink and paper disintegrated into dust, crushed folds and creases are some examples on how I treat surfaces as material. This approach triggers a tension between representation and trace while combining body movements to the articulation of ideas.

Traducido del inglés

La noción del gesto es el primer impulse detrás de mi obra. Mis videos, fotografías, instalaciones, esculturas y dibujos son el resultado de sutiles gestos que intentan revelar lo que pasa desapercibido o sin estudiarse, ya sea similitudes arquitectónicas entre una aldea en la selva Amazónica con un pueblito de Michigan; o la intensa labor requerida para limpiar un edificio gubernamental prístino en Brasilia. La arquitectura como manifestación de la identidad, ideología y poder económico es de gran interés para mí, como lo es investigar las estructuras de soporte de la modernidad que son invisibles, la vida y el capitalismo. En diálogo con estas preocupaciones está mi interés en los procesos de indicio y las connotaciones culturales e históricas de un material. Mi dedicación al indicio parte de su relación intrínseca con nuestros cuerpos y por tanto a la proximidad con lo real, no muy alejado de lo que pasa con la historia y sus evidencias materiales. Mi obra en papel existe en un lugar entre la bi y tridimensionalidad, ya que por lo regular poseen cualidades de objeto. Grabados de dos caras, tinta y pape desintegrados en polvo y dobleces machucados, son ejemplos de cómo manejo las superficies como material. Este acercamiento provoca una tensión entre la representación y el trazo mientras combino movimientos corporales a la articulación de las ideas.

Selected Biographical Information

Education / Training

2013: Artpace, International Artist-in-Residence, San Antonio, USA. (guest curator: Hanru Hou)
2010-2012: Core Program, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.
2011: SOMA summer, Mexico City, Mexico.
2010: Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain. (mentor: Mona Hatoum)
2009: Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, USA.
2009: M.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA.
2000: B.F.A., Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil.

Prizes / Fellowships

2013: ARC Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation.
2012: VI Concurso de Videoarte, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco.
2012: Artistic Innovation Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation.
2010-2012: Core Program Fellowship, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
2009: Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Donald and Doris Fisher Fellowship / CalArts Matching Fellowship.
2009: CAA Los Angeles MFA Award, College Art Association.
2009: Deanʼs Grant, California Institute of the Arts.
2008: Interdisciplinary Grant, California Institute of the Arts.
2007-2009: Graduate Scholarship, California Institute of the Arts.

Solo Exhibitions

2013: “Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities”, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, USA.
2013: “Study for a Landscape”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA.
2012: “On Brasília”, Centre 3, Hamilton, Canada.
2011: “Gasto”, Luisa Strina Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil.
2009: “Real”, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA (MFA Thesis).

Group Exhibitions

2013: “Panoramas do Sul – 18º Sesc_Videobrasil”, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil.
2013: “Concreta Sonho”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria.
2013: “La Elipsis Arquitectónica”, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico.
2013: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI, USA.
2012: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.
2012: “Dallas Biennale”, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX, USA.
2012 “Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
2011: “Building Arts”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA.
2011: “YLA 16: Thought Cloud”, Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX, USA.
2011: “Nowhere Near Here”, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, USA.
2011: “Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, USA.

Publications

2013: “La Elipsis Arquitectónica,” Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (exhibition publication).
2012: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes,” CCA Wattis Institute (exhibition catalogue).
2012: “Core Program,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston (exhibition catalogue).
2011: “Core Program,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston (exhibition catalogue).
2010: “Brasília by Foot,” Shifter 16: Pluripotential (April): 44-51.
2009: “Why Theory,” California Institute of the Arts M.F.A. 2009 (exhibition publication).