Marina Perez Simão

Marina Perez Simão explores the boundaries of abstraction, evoking a sense of awe by layering and juxtaposing colors to trap light, creating compositions that transcend the tangible world in a practice dedicated to exploring new possibilities and new states of matter. Focusing on light and movement, the artist creates paintings that, rather than serve reality , follow their own internal logic, representing alternate worlds and possibilities. Along her exploration of “painting where words fail,” she , however, often draws from natural and geological phenomena , shifting colors at a certain hour of the day, or other such perceptions and reception of light – ones often bound to experiences of places , methods , states of mind . Always s tarting with drawings and then watercolors, she builds structure s that evolve into her painting s’ intricate compositions. Notably, Simão’s approach is marked by a dynamic, almost musical complexity, blending natural and abstract elements to create interior and exterior landscapes. The artist describes her series as a form of dancing between paintings, with each work existing independently yet in relation to others, like a family or group of friends. This allows the artist’s works to remain open , shifting, and alive. For Simão , a painting is “ never one thing or another . ” As curator Diana Campbell remarks on the ever-apparent sense of oneness Simão time and time again achieves , “ On the atomic level, there is no difference between inside, outside, you, her, or me.” Marina Perez Simão (b. 198 0 , Vitória, Brazil ) lives and works in São Paulo . Her recent solo exhibitions include Diffusion , Mendes Wood DM , Paris (2024) ; Z W I E L I C H T , G2 Kunsthalle , Leipzig (2024); Solanaceae , Pace Gallery , Los Angeles (2024); Marina Perez Simão , Villa Era , Vigliano Biellese (2023) ; Marina Perez Simão : Watercolors , Cahiers d’Art , Paris (2022); Onda , Pace Gallery , London (2022); 5 pinturas , Mendes Wood DM , São Paulo (2022); Observatory , Sifang Art Museum , Jiangsu (2021); Sonia Gomes & Marina Perez Simão , Pace Gallery , East Hampton (2020); Éveils Maritimes , Mendes Wood DM , Brussels (2020); Our dog-eyes , Mendes Wood DM , São Paulo (2018); Miniature , Embassy of Brazil , Rome (2016).