CADERNO B - Jornal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, December 13, 2009
English Version | Versão em Português
DANIEL AZULAY was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, and graduated in Law while he drew comics for newspapers and magazines. Self-taught, in 1970 he exhibited his first graphic and visual works in acrylic kaleidoscopes at the Modern Art Museum, in his hometown. In 1973, he traveled to Israel and recorded his impressions in drawings in the album “Jerusalem”, introduced at the Ipanema Art Gallery in Rio and the Gabinete de Artes Gráficas in São Paulo.
The poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, in a chronicle for Jornal do Brasil newspaper in March, 1974 wrote (…) “An artist above all, and then a very keen observer, Daniel captures the essence of the human figure, of the posture of the physical and sentimental identity of the being, and he does it with the philosophical grace of someone who knows how to contemplate the spectacle of the world, between smiling and being moved.”
In 1975, competing against more than seventy countries, he won the Grand Prize of International Exhibition of Humor Drawings in Athens, held to celebrate the return of democracy to Greece. To excite children´s imagination and creativity, Azulay influenced an entire generation, giving life to his cartoon characters, designing and performing art on television for ten years on national broadcasting network.
The artist was also invited in 1979 by the American government to represent Brazil at the Internationl Symposium of Books of Broadcasting for Children/USA, and in 1989 the British Consulate organized a retrospective with an exhibition of his works at the Hotel RioPalace, in Rio de Janeiro, with the presence of Princess Anne of England.
At the age of 64, Azulay lives in Rio de Janeiro and travels throughout the world holding contemporary art exhibitions, presentations and workshops of art education in the United States, France, Israel, Finland, Sweden and Portugal. In 2007, his work as a volunteer and founder of the Social Project “Grow With Art” for children and young people from underprivileged communities was awarded and recognized by the ICAF – International Child Art Foundation in Washington, DC.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
DANIEL AZULAY is an artist and educator with vast and diversified experience, which includes working with children and teenagers. He has won many awards in Brazil and abroad, and his art is held by several major private collections and large corporations. At the age of 64, he travels the world to exhibit his work, deliver lectures and lead workshops on art, education and social responsibility of his awarded “Grow With Art Project”.
ABOUT HIS ARTWORK
Anyone familiar with Daniel Azulay’s paintings, can tell that he elevates cartoons, graffiti, toy art figures and corporate logos by positioning them in the realm of fine art.
Azulay goes further recasting his contemporary art imagery crossing the limits between high and low culture, good or bad taste approaching the condition of purely kitsch-optical-art.
In his artistic process, Azulay juxtaposes rich details of his recognizable world of stuffed animals, pinups, babyface dolls, spaceships and robots playfully exploring the relationship between reality and imagination. This juxtaposition serves to connect the old with the new, creating an alternative universe where nothing is realistic and yet everything is familiar. Azulay’s love of bicycles is a recurring source of inspiration for his painting and sculpture.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
“When I imagine a bike, I don´t see a vehicle or means of transportation. I begin by imagining the shadow it casts. A distorted reflection in search of balance. My bike is a pair of wings, a whirlwind, a giant Ferris wheel, a carousel – the name doesn’t matter: we are all in orbit dancing around the light.”
Colecionador
and Wall Street Escritório de Arte Galleries
invite you to the Opening of the Exhibit of Paintings
A PORTA (The Door)
Daniel Azulay
 Daniel Azulay’s experience, through the dreamlike environment of TV and vivid contact with the universe of childhood marks his eleventh exhibit. Using pop art traits, Daniel breaks with contemporary arts and surprises by consolidating his artistic language. Azulay reveals, through the maturation of his ideas, that his work is for all ages.
The result of this eight-month work, synthesizing his main influences: the childhood, sport and nature which followed him through his entire life, presents a Daniel in love with motion and movement.
In total there are 30 artworks that make up the collection of paintings on canvas which synthesize Daniel’s artistic personality. To him nature is a permanent inspiration because of the tropical exuberance of Brazil. As a fan and participant, the artist has always participated in sports. The numerous endeavors accomplished as a contemporary artist and educator have only contributed to enrich the creative form of his work as a whole, in which we can observe various childhood symbols.
The works Natação (Swimming) and TropiCatupiry are among the most striking of the exhibition. The first one shows lines that mix, displaying calligraphy and elements of the painter’s visual alphabet. The work is marked by motion, capturing the instant of body movement, which Daniel considers a miraculous moment.
The second painting, influenced by English pop art, results in the reprocessing of an iconic image of popular consumption, the Catupiry cheese label. The profile of the work identifies with the English model, by presenting a certain evasive romanticism, and by not overusing dramatic resources and shock , more common in American pop. The challenge is shown on the canvas in an unexpected way, composed of two modules that complete each other, resulting in a “sculpted” 2D image.
TropiCatupiry
acrylic on two canvas
102 x 130 cm and 97 x 78,5 cm (each) |
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Swimmer
acrylic on canvas
100 x 86 cm |
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Besides his work as a contemporary artist, in 2004 Daniel Azulay created the social project Grow with Art to improve artistic and inspiring ideas for children and adults in poor communitys all over Brazil. Since the beginning, the Grow with Art project has provided art education for more than 12.000 people, many of whom are children, with the bare essentials.
