Mauro Restiffe – History as landscape

Architecture, and Modernism in particular, has always been a source of inspiration for Brazilian photographer Mauro Restiffe.

In his career the artist has traveled and captured the oevre of well known architects around the world, from Philip Johnson to Oscar Niemeyer. In his photos Restiffe reveals the unexpected combinations between architecture and landscape, indoors and outdoors, focusing on unobserved details and traces of human presence: architecture serves as stage for history, may it be public or private. Restiffe’s images are often embedded with historical value and present intimate perspectives on a Country’s history, such is the case of his well known series Empossamento (2003) and Oscar (2012).

For his show at OGR Restiffe has taken his survey to Italy, researching the projects of Carlo Mollino, Piero Portaluppi, Franco Albini and Carlo Scarpa among others.

Mauro Restiffe (São José do Rio Pardo, 1970) lives and works in São Paulo. Recent solo shows include: São Paulo, Fora de Alcance, Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo, 2018 – Rio de Janeiro, 2014); Álbum, Estação Pinacoteca (São Paulo, 2017); Post-Soviet Russia 1995/2015, Garage Museum (Moscow, 2016); and Obra, MAC-USP (São Paulo, 2013). Restiffe participated in major group show such as: Gwangju Biennial (2018), Aichi Triennial (Nagoya, Japan, 2016); Cuenca Biennial (Ecuador, 2014); São Paulo Biennial (2006); and Panorama de Arte Brasileira (São Paulo, 2013 and 2005).

His work is part of the following collections: MoMA (New York), Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York), SFMOMA (San Francisco), Tate Modern (London), Inhotim (Brumadinho), Instituto Moreira Salles (Rio de Janeiro), MASP (São Paulo), MAC-USP (São Paulo), MAM (São Paulo), Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo), among others.