Luiz Zerbini Botanica, Monotypes 2016—2020

Since 2016, Brazilian artist Luiz Zerbini has devoted his time to the creation of monotypes. First from within the Instituto Inhotim in Minas Gerais, then the Estúdio Baren in Rio de Janeiro, the artist created unique prints obtained by a non-reproductible process. Leaves, flowers and branches, selected and collected for their contours, shapes and textures, are placed on a previously inked metal plate. A large sheet of paper covers the whole, the last necessary element for the realization of a monotype. While passing through the press the composition imagined by the artist is transferred to the sheet of paper, thus revealing amazing shapes and colors, between figuration and abstraction.

Over four years, Luiz Zerbini created more than 300 monotypes, an exceptional series that the Fondation Cartier sought to bring together in a large format book, similar to that of L’Architecture des arbres, published in 2019. This exceptional plant repertoire is a reference for all nature lovers and fans of Luiz Zerbini’s work.

Luiz Zerbini

Born in São Paulo in 1959, Luiz Zerbini studied painting very early on, then photography and watercolour. In 1978, he entered the Fine Arts School of the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paolo. Today, he sculpts, draws, takes photographs, makes videos and paints canvases of impressive dimensions, where urban landscapes, Brazilian culture and the lush nature of the tropical flora unfold in a rich palette of colors. Luiz Zerbini has exhibited all over the world and has participated in many biennials including in São Paulo (1987 and 2010), Havana (2000) as well as the Morcosul Biennial (2001). He is also a founding member of the Chelpa Ferro group, which participated in the São Paulo Biennial in 2002 and 2004. He is one of the artists presented in the exhibitions Southern Geometries, from Mexico to Patagonia and Trees, organized by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 2018 and 2019.