Inverno

"The research leading to Inverno (Winter) – like in my other works – occurred at two parallel moments. There were no previous studies or researches. The research was conducted while the work itself was being developed, through notes I take in my daily life, often with no direct connection to the work at hand. Loose sentences I overhear on the street, scenes I see in the places I pass through, drawings (almost scribbles) that I make of things that capture my attention.

This reference-capturing process comes out at other moments throughout my research process. During production, these references are combined with improvisation and imagination. I explore the tools provided by drawing, graphism, lines and a bevy of other elements. During production, I am strongly influenced by television, which stays on, causing me to soak up pieces of information (both useful and useless), that end up appearing in different parts of Inverno. In my work, drawing is a means to research rather than an end, a final product unto itself.

In my poetics, the art field is not a reference as strong as the urban universe, daily life and television. Nonetheless, some artists have undoubtedly influenced me a lot. These are artists who seek to create characters, monsters and creatures, and whose images conceal a certain mystery. Marcello Graisman, Samico, Keith Haring and  Trenton Doyle Hancock are some of them.

Inverno began in late June 2012, the beginning of winter season, hence its title. It was then that Fernando Lugo, the former president of Paraguay, was impeached in a suspected coup d’état. It was also then that I played the lottery every week… Most of these events, conversations and interactions were linked to the production of this piece. On observing Inverno, the audience will be in direct contact with my creative process.

The most significant aspect of Inverno is the urban context. In São Paulo, a miscegenated city of myriad customs and cultures, madness and chaos are reflected in the way people live in the city, and in the way I produce. Inverno is a drawing that builds itself, as does the city, in tangled lines, layers upon layers, writings mixed with images.

This piece deals with short narratives and fictions; it consists of countless small drawings which come together to form a composition. Scenes that I capture in my day-to-day life, mixed with improvised images. In its many details and graphic effects, the piece invites the audience to slow down, to spend some time looking at these messy lines devoid of much logic, incomplete bits of news and meaningless phrases which carry a mystery. A universe where improvisation reigns and error does not exist."

Gabriel Torggler in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (October 2013)