Sandra Guinle’s Magic Box

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Studying in Paris and New York, Anita Malfatti spent her cosmopolitan youth in close contact with some of the most famous and “illustrious” artists of her time. Seemingly weary of all the theoretical constructions and their contradictions, at the age of 45 she traveled to Minas Gerais State in the heartlands of Brazil, where she became enchanted with the simplicity of the local people and their customs, and even the complicity of these rustic landscapes that resembled children’s drawings.

After a life of privation and suffering, another São Paulo painter, Djanira, sought herself within the apparently simple and naïf art that she produced. Already mature, she also refused to follow any canons ̈...I never turned back, nor made concessions...working alone night and day, consulting my conscience, I saw that I had only one path to follow: to start out from myself...”

This recalls another artist, Russian-born Marc Chagall, who - after an in-depth apprenticeship in his homeland and in France - set out in quest 

of themes based on folklore, aloof from national contexts in his explorations of dreams and memories, also seeking a lost childhood.

These three artists had to cope with World Wars, during terrible times for humankind - and at some phase, their works strove to breathe airs far from this dark and bloodstained reality.

Born in upstate São Paulo, Sandra Guinle’s childhood was shaped by a setting of peace and affection. But the world has been just as cruel, or even worse, than in the times of the three artists mentioned above. Gone are the simple homemade toys that were often created and made by the children themselves. Drenched in Coca- Cola, children’s parties are hellish with techno music. Anxious about jobs and financial problems, parents seem to have little joy to offer, and children wander through their schools - when they exist - with the gaze of worried adults.

And Its Excellency, the Computer reigns supreme, silent and implacable. Now, children waste in front of its screen the time that they once spent on games. Few playful alternatives have been sought out to humanize computers.

Children study English, take gym classes, fill up all the moments of their childhood and, like little robots, compete, compete, compete. This was the world that Sandra Guinle found when she ̈awoke ̈ from her memories, and then decided to return to this magic place that was her childhood, and the childhood of each of us.

It was not so long ago, in fact, it seems like yesterday, that children were playing hopscotch, swimming in the stream, picking apples or kale in the yard. Sandra refuses to accept this: is it possible to resist, revert this ̈education ̈ to which we have been brought by this world, in which money circulates freely at the speed of light while people are forbidden to travel from country to country?

At a time of installations and performances, when Central Park is wrapped, Sandra remains faithful to the classic seduction of clay and the eternal robustness of bronze. Clearly rooted in Brazilian Modern Art, following in the footsteps of Maria Martins, Portinari, Bruno Giorgi, Teruz and Cesquiatti, she invites us to return to these emotional sources, this magic universe, and if still possible, to rationality itself.

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Raul Luis Mendes Silva

Essayist

São Paulo, 2005