Millan kicks off its 2024 program on January 20, with Surge et veni, a group show curated by Antonio Gonçalves Filho.

The exhibition brings together young painters with increasing notoriety in the art spaces and presents different developments in contemporary painting. With works by Beatrice Arraes, Bruno Neves, Lucas F. Rubly, Rayana Rayo and Thiago Hattnher, the set displays the various solutions and research in today’s pictorial field.

Whether through abstraction, the creation of landscapes or the capture of ordinary fragments and mementoes, these paintings take on a metaphysical or existential character. Nevertheless, the range with which each artist arrives at these insights is striking. Engaging with their own set of references and coming to unique solutions in the creation of their images – which range from the introspective to the vibrant and visceral.

Fortaleza-based, Beatrice Arraes looks at rudimentary design and incorporates its signs into her canvases. Remembrance of the passing of time is one of her main subjects, hence her fondness for Morandi’s painting, a shared reference with the other artists in the show.

Bruno Neves, from São Paulo, has turned his gaze to names such as Judith Lauand and Mira Schendel, as well as historical names from the 1950’s Brazilan neo-concrete movement. His painting, although evocative and suggesting a connection with the surrounding environment, is fundamentally anchored in geometry.

Another Paulistano, Lucas F. Rubly, has the English painter of harbor sceneries Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) as his historical interlocutor, as well as Morandi (1890-1964), even evoking the atmosphere of the Via Fondazzza landscapes painted by the Italian in the 1950s.

Rayana Rayo, who hails from Recife, makes abstract paintings that often allude to existential experiences. In the exhibition, she shows her most recent paintings, which operate in an organic and visceral register.

Finally, Thiago Hattnher’s paintings are landscapes built on the memory of particular locations – for instance, scenes of the road linking São Paulo to the countryside town of São José do Rio Preto, evoked in canvases that record the lingering impressions of this travel. In turn, his most recent canvases recreate the covers of artists’ books, such as the one that pays homage to the American musician and composer John Cage (1912-1992).

The opening of The Experimental Legacy will also take place on January 20, from 11am to 3pm.