Matheus Rocha Pitta Exhibits in São Paulo Before European Solo Shows

Brazilian artist Matheus Rocha Pitta is currently presenting works at auroras in São Paulo until October 12, alongside pieces by Débora Bolsoni and G. T. Pellizzi. During a brief residency at the space, he produced the triptych from his series Toque de Recolher and the sculpture Cadeira Cativa. The Toque de Recolher series, composed of square cement slabs with embedded newspaper clippings inscribed with "say something," "hear something," and "see something," investigates freedom of expression, opinion, and social networks. Rocha Pitta connects the series to the medieval origin of curfews as a gesture of care rather than repression, drawing a parallel to the Japanese Three Wise Monkeys as an ethical stance against propagating violence through language. For Cadeira Cativa, a metal structure suggests an absent body—a "ghost of authoritarianism"—that would topple without the supporting cellphones, which the artist describes as spotlights for authoritarianism. Rocha Pitta now spends only one-third of the year in Brazil. He has upcoming solo exhibitions in Europe: at Kunstverein in Hamburg in February and at the non-profit space C A S S T L in Antwerp, Belgium, in April, where he may show more works from the Toque de Recolher series. Additionally, he plans to create a sculpture for Usina de Arte in Água Preta, Pernambuco, dealing with strong Northeastern popular cultural heritage.