“Ciclotrama (expansão)” (2019), 4 Ciclotramas of “expansion” series with varied sizes, black and blue ropes, 270 x 600 x 400 centimeters. Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Gui Gomes. All images © Janaina Mello Landini, shared with permission
Janaina Mello Landini (previously) unbraids lengths of rope to create fibrous labyrinths that breach canvases’ edges and crawl from floor to ceiling. Including both sprawling site-specific installations and smaller pieces confined to a few dozen centimeters, the São Paulo-based artist’s body of work is broad. All of her projects, though, explore tension and space as they spread into arboreal forms or perfectly round networks.
Her recent works include a massive tree-like installation that fans out across Zipper Gallery’s floor and walls into delicate, tape blossoms. Another is a smaller, numbered piece (shown below) that was born from the artist’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “My days are quite slow now, no more assistants around, but I’m still working and thinking a lot,” she shares with Colossal. “At the beginning of the pandemic, I did Ciclotrama 177 (Fibonacci)… Imagine a planet-scale Ciclotrama. It starts from the first contagion and expands, forming the actual course of infection of millions of people who were catching and transmitting the disease. And keeps going…”
Since 2010, Landini has been contributing to her Ciclotrama series, a moniker that defines each piece. “The social cartography of individual networks shows the infinite interconnectedness of personal trajectories throughout a system, society, and the world as a whole. The movement of bodies (ropes) and the relationship between rhythm and time are also fundamental aspects of these series,” she says.
To dive further into Landini’s work, check out her Instagram or Artsy, and take a virtual tour of her recent show at Zipper Gallery.
“Ciclotrama 177 (Fibonacci)” (2020), cotton threads and acrylic pen on canvas, 1.7 x 1.7 meters. Photo by Lucas Cimino
“Ciclotrama 177 (Fibonacci)” (2020), cotton threads and acrylic pen on canvas, 1.7 x 1.7 meters. Photo by Lucas Cimino
“Ciclotrama 141 (épura)” (2019), 20 meters of handmade cotton rope diameter 24 centimeters and 2880 meters of paper tape, 700 x 800 x 1600 centimeters. Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Gui Gomes
Left: “Ciclotrama 153 (aglomeração)” (2020), rope on canvas, 43 3/10 × 43 3/10 inches. Right: “Ciclotrama 124” (2018), Dipado rope sewed on natural linen, 78 7/10 × 78 7/10 × 2 inches
“Ciclotrama 141 (épura)” (2019), 20 meters of handmade cotton rope diameter 24 centimeters and 2880 meters of paper tape, 700 x 800 x 1600 centimeters
“Ciclotrama (expansão)” (2019), 4 Ciclotramas of “expansion” series with varied sizes, black and blue ropes, 270 x 600 x 400 centimeters. Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Gui Gomes
“Ciclotrama (expansão)” (2019), 4 Ciclotramas of “expansion” series with varied sizes, black and blue ropes, 270 x 600 x 400 centimeters. Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Gui Gomes
“Ciclotrama 141 (épura)” (2019), 20 meters of handmade cotton rope diameter 24 centimeters and 2880 meters of paper tape, 700 x 800 x 1600 centimeters
“Ciclotrama 141 (épura)” (2019), 20 meters of handmade cotton rope diameter 24 centimeters and 2880 meters of paper tape, 700 x 800 x 1600 centimeters
“Ciclotrama 174 (impregnação)” (2019), 50 meters of black nylon rope 40 millimeters diameter and 4.200 black nails, 6 x 7 x 5 meters. Photo by Gui Gomes
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/09/janaina-mello-landini-rope-artworks/