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Apoio
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apresenta
Alair Gomes
PERCURSOS
Curadoria Eder Chiodetto
Presidenta da Repblica
Dilma Vana Rousseff
Ministro da Fazenda
Joaquim Levy
Presidenta da Caixa
Miriam Belchior
A CAIXA uma empresa pblica brasileira que prima pelo respeito diversidade, e
mantm comits internos atuantes para promover entre os seus empregados campanhas,
programas e aes voltados para disseminar idias, conhecimentos e atitudes de res-
and actions towards the dissemination of ideas, knowledge and behaviors of respect and
tolerance to diversities of gender, race, sexual orientation and all other differences that
CAIXA is also one of the most important sponsors for Brazilian culture, and allocates,
visuais, peas de teatro, espetculos de dana, shows musicais, festivais de teatro e dana
annually, more than R$ 60 million of its budget to sponsor cultural projects in both self-
owned and third party venues, specially for visual arts expositions, theater plays, dance
and musical shows, theater and dance festivals across Brazil, and Brazilian handcrafts.
The projects sponsored are chosen through public notice, an option CAIXA chose to
make the participation of producers and artists throughout Brazil more accessible and
democratic, and also making it clear for the society about the investments of the company resources in sponsorship.
Esta exposio traz a pblico a obra fotogrfica singular de Alair Gomes (1921-1992),
artista carioca que cultuou a beleza do corpo masculino, tendo por referncia a repre-
This exposition brings to the public the unique photographic work of Alair Gomes
(1921-1992), an artist from Rio de Janeiro that worshiped the beauty of the male body,
having the nude representation of Greek and Roman statues and art history as refer-
partir dos anos 1960, sua obra potica pode ser entendida como um manifesto a favor
ences. Uniting desire, art history and photographic representation, aligned with the
counterculture movements from the 1960, his poetic work can be understood as a
manifesto in favor of freedom of expression and against intolerance.
Desta maneira, a CAIXA contribui para promover e difundir a cultura nacional e retribui
sociedade brasileira a confiana e o apoio recebidos ao longo de seus 154 anos de
CAIXA contributes to promote and disseminate Brazilian culture and repays the Brazil-
ian society all the trust and support received throughout its 154 years in Brazil, and as an
CAIXA, a vida pede mais que um banco. Pede investimento e participao efetiva no
effective partner for the development of Brazilian cities. For CAIXA, life asks for more
than a bank. It asks for investments and participation in the present, commitment to the
future of Brazil, and creativity to achieve the best results for the Brazilian people.
Compor fotografias como quem escreve partituras musicais. Fazer dos desejos mais ntimos um manifesto artstico libertrio.
Espiar pela janela com olhos capazes de petrificar o corpo desejado. Acreditar que na pulso ertica residem tambm a beleza
O corpo masculino jovem e belo pautou toda a obra fotogrfica do artista carioca Alair Gomes [1921-1992], realizada ao longo
e a transcendncia do ser.
Ao longo desse perodo, o olhar do artista se tornou cada vez mais complexo e original. Engenheiro, estudioso da histria da
com a pintura, a escultura e a religio, como nas composies de Beach Triptych, inspiradas em altares religiosos.
anos, dedicou-se escrita literria, compondo os seus Dirios Erticos. Quando se sentiu exaurido de expressar pelo verbo seus
encontros e fantasias de amor e sexo, vislumbrou ento materializar e simbolicamente possuir os desejados corpos dos raCom uma cmera fotogrfica emprestada de um amigo, viajou no final dos anos 1960 para a Europa. Em Florena, diante dos
Alair Gomes
PERCURSOS
Superada a questo da fotografia como arte, Alair comeou a fotografar rapazes nus em seu apartamento, utilizando como
forma de seduo e referncia as imagens da estaturia greco-romana. Os nus integram a srie Symphony of Erotic Icons, composta por 1.767 fotografias e at hoje nunca exibida na ntegra. Nesta mostra, a fim de salientar o aspecto referencial na obra de
Gomes, realizamos uma indita sobreposio dos registros de esculturas e pinturas com as imagens dos nus.
Alair Gomes: Percursos foi estruturada visando a inserir o espectador no universo esttico e conceitual do artista, mostrando-o
tambm como um ser poltico. Gomes produziu toda a sua obra entre dois marcos que revolucionaram o comportamento da humanidade: suas sries tm incio no final dos anos 1960, no contexto libertrio da contracultura, e terminam com o seu assassinato,
em 1992, no momento em que o surgimento da Aids gerou um novo cerceamento liberao sexual e ao estilo de vida gay.
Duas sries inditas ajudam a ilustrar o pano de fundo em que se desenvolve a obra de Alair Gomes: Hippies - Praa da Repblica, na qual o fotgrafo registra personagens da feira hippie em So Paulo, em 1969, e os fragmentos da srie Esportes, em que
extrai das atividades esportivas praticadas por rapazes uma iconografia que ressalta a beleza, a fora fsica e a sensualidade,
caractersticas que se acentuariam nas sries posteriores.
Compem tambm a exposio The Course of The Sun e suas sries mais conhecidas Sonatinas, Four Feet e Beach Triptych.
As duas primeiras integram o conjunto de obras denominado Finestra, realizadas da janela do sexto andar de um apartamento
A criao artstica, a pulso sexual e a adorao ao sagrado so, para o artista, vias de acesso eternidade que nascem da
em Ipanema, de onde a pulso voyeur de Alair fazia de sua teleobjetiva a arma de um franco atirador.
Me interesso pela beleza humana, e o fascnio que ela inspira absolutamente primordial. Meus pontos de vista se tornaram
mesma matriz compulsiva. Logo, a arte e o sexo so caminhos fecundos para conferir perfeio inacabada natureza humana.
to definidos que tudo me leva a crer que a presena de diversas propores geomtricas no corpo humano, todas interligadas,
o que melhor explica por que o intelecto se sente to atrado pela questo das propores. Isso significa, entre outras coisas,
que a posio dos rgos sexuais a meia altura do corpo humano tem um peso muito maior na importncia que se atribui aos
conceitos de centro e de meio para a razo humana.
Eder Chiodetto_curador
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Eder Chiodetto_curator
other things, that the position of the sexual organs at half height of the human body has a larger weight in the importance
all interconnected, is what best explains why the mind feels so attracted to the mysteries of proportions. This means, among
become so defined that it all leads me to believing that the presence of many geometrical proportions in the human body,
Im interested in the human beauty and the fascination that it inspires is absolutely primordial. My points of view have
in the same compulsive matrix. Now, art and sex are fruitful paths to granting perfection to the unfinished human nature.
The artistic creation, the sex drive and the worship of the sacred are, for the artist, routes of accessing eternity that are born
Ipanema, from where his voyeur drive would make his telephoto lens his sharpshooter weapon.
The first two compose the set of works denominated Finestra, taken from the window of the sixth floor of an apartment in
Also compose the exposition The Course of the Sun and his best known series Sonatinas, four feet and Beach Triptych
nography that highlights the beauty, strength and sensuality that would punctuate his later series.
in 1969, and fragments of the series Esportes, in which Gomes extracts, from the sports activities practiced by men, an ico-
that permeated Gomes work: Praa da Repblica, in which the artist photographs characters in the hippie fair in So Paulo,
Two new series, shown here for the first time, help creating this background that contextualize the time and environment
the time that the Aids outbreak created new restrains for sexual liberation and the gay life style.
series began in the end of the 1960, in the context of a libertarian counterculture, and ended with his murder, in 1992, during
showing him as a political being, creating his work between two landmarks that changed radically the human behavior: his
Alair Gomes: Routes was structured as a way to insert the viewer in the artists aesthetic and conceptual universe, also
images of the sculptures and paintings with the nude images, to underline this referential aspect in the work of Gomes.
Symphony of the Erotic Icons, totaling 1.767 photos never fully exhibited. In the exhibition, we created a superposition of the
ment using as a form of seduction and reference the images of the Greek and Roman statues. The nudes are part of the series
ROUTES
After overcoming the question of photography as an artform, Alair started photographing naked young males in his apart-
Alair Gomes
long series. Somewhere between painting and cinema, the fragmented sequential photography would emerge, at last, as a
for the young male body had taken him to creating a large number of images, the artist started working in sequences and
brush. Photography longed to find autonomy as a language. Reflecting on this dilemma and observing that his compulsion
For Alair, however, a lone photography couldnt overcome the pictorial potency of a painting, created by the flick of the
come a heart firmly embedded and the point of the heart of his love-sex protrudes exactly on the spire of the heart.
radiance in the crossing of the convergence of the thighs they compose the form of the isolated temple. The palle [balls] be-
his salient behinds, that protrude from the round of his thighs when watched from behind, are perfectly lunar-like, even in its
front of the five meter and seventeen centimeters marble block in which Davids body was sculpted finished in 1504 by
With a photographic camera borrowed from a friend, he traveled to Europe in the end of the 60s. In Florence, standing in
and sex, he glimpsed to materialize and symbolically to possess the desired bodies of the young males in the form of images.
he dedicated himself to writing his Erotic Diaries. When he felt exhausted to express in words his encounters and fantasies of love
Before looking for a genuine expression through photography, Alair first dedicated himself to drawing. After that, for ten years,
in triptych compositions.
porary art, in special, the sequence of images that he elaborated inspired by symphonies and sonatinas at religious altars,
art history, physics and philosophy, his quest led him to finding fertile routes to insert photography into the field of contem-
The vision of the artist, homoerotically biased, became something complex and original throughout his work. A student of
[1921-1992], accomplished over a period of 20 years, starting in the middle of the 60s.
The young and beautiful male body was the subject of the photographic work of Rio de Janeiro-based artist Alair Gomes
Peeking through the window with eyes capable of petrifying the desired body. Believing that in the erotic pulsation also
Composing photography as if writing music scores. Making of his most intimate desires a libertarian artistic manifesto.
Esportes
Nestas imagens inditas, selecionadas no Acervo Alair Gomes, da Biblioteca Nacional, Alair fotografa atletas de diversas
modalidades esportivas. Esses registros, porm, so muitos diferentes daqueles que normalmente vemos na cobertura esportiva realizada por fotojornalistas. Alheio competio, o olhar de Alair perscruta os corpos dos rapazes com foco na
musculatura, no contorno, no movimento por meio do qual esses corpos bem torneados revelam a perfeio da forma.
Flagrantes de uma adorao.
Bem-aventurado sou eu, por ter tantas vezes adorado a elevao e a manifestao da via sagrada do mundo na carne dos
jovens rapazes, escreveu Alair em seu dirio.
Nesta srie, o artista alude composio musical para criar sequncias com imagens de uma ao que ocorre num tempo-espao bem definido,
em geralcomdois rapazes se exercitando na praia.
Essa narrativa fraturada nos d a percepo de umacoreografia ritmada e sensual. Por meio dessa estratgia, Alair extraida cena um erotismomuitas vezes imperceptvel para quem a v no contnuo do tempo. O espao vago entre um fragmento e outro o combustvel da imaginao.
As imagens dessa srie foram captadas por Alair com uma teleobjetiva, da janela do seu apartamento, no sexto andar, em Ipanema.
Trata-se de uma srie em que Alair rene trs imagens no necessariamente sequenciais para criarum outro tipo de movimento.
Segundo ele prprio,ao reunir trs fotos, fazendo uma espcie de composio de altar, cheguei no que os ingleses chamam de
altar piece. Na Renascena italiana, os trpticos de altar eram comuns. O trptico tinha conotao religiosa; frequentemente havia
uma figura central e duas laterais, secundrias, formando um todo. Trs imagens diferentes que completavam uma composio
que, em geral, chamava devoo. E devoo absolutamente central no meu caso, tanto que denominei esses fragmentos com
o nome latino de Adoremus, cometendo uma espcie de blasfmia proposital no no mau sentido, mas simplesmente fazendo
uso de um nome tipicamente religioso em uma composio ertica.
Esta srie integra o grupo de obras denominadasFinestra, realizadas por Alair a partir da janela de seu apartamento em Ipanema. O movimento dos rapazes indo e vindo da praia em dias desol proporciona uma duplicidade decorpo e sombra,como um espelhamento distorcido.
Por vezes, as sombras assumem a mesma monumentalidade da estaturia greco-romana que ele fotografou na Europa. Nota-se, no conjunto
formado por essas imagens, uma nova citao formal s partituras musicais : corpos-claves que danam ritmados pelo sol.
Esta foia primeira grande composio sequencialrealizadapor Alair,entre 1966 e 1978. Considerada sua obra-prima, dedicada totalmente ao nu masculino e compreende um conjunto de 1.767 fotografias. Para Alair, a construo desse universo
fotogrfico almejava transcender a sua personalidade, criando um estado protorreligioso. Essa srie nunca foi mostrada
integralmente, devido a questes jurdicas relativas ao direito de imagem dos modelos, nunca formalizadas pelo fotgrafo.
Na mostra exibida na CAIXA Cultural, em So Paulo, fragmentos de Symphony of Erotic Icons foram intercalados com imagens
de esttuas greco-romanas fotografadas por Alair em duas viagens pela Europa, em 1969 e 1983. Essa estrutura conjunta
visou a ressaltar a relao que Alair criou entre os nus dos garotos que ele abordava na praia, e fotografava em seu apartamento, e a tradio da representao do corpo masculino como cone de fora e virilidade na esttica clssica.
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apartment, and the tradition of the male body representation as an icon of power and virility in the classic aesthetics.
relationship that Alair created between the nudes of the young males he approached at the beach, and photographed in this
and Roman statues taken by Alair in two trips throughout Europe, in 1969 and 1983. This joint structure aims to highlight the
In the exhibit made for CAIXA Cultural, fragments of Symphony of Erotic Icons were superposed with photographs of Greek
in its integrity, due to legal questions related to the male models, never formalized by the photographer.
graphic universe longed for transcending its personality, creating a proto-religious state. This series has never been shown
is completely dedicated to male nudes and is comprised a set of 1,767 photographs. For Alair, the construction of this photo-
This was the first major sequential composition put together by Alair, between 1966 and 1978. Considered his masterpiece, it
on the set formed by these images, a new formal citation to the musical scores, clef-bodies that dance in the rhythm of the sun.
the shadows embody the same monumentality of the Greek and Roman Sculptures that he photographed in Europe. One can notice,
ment of the males, going back and forth from beach in sunny days provides duplicity of body and shadow, like a twisted reflex. Often,
This series is part of a group of works called Finestra, accomplished by Alair from the window of his apartment in Ipanema. The move-
to name these fragments with the Latin name Adoremus, committing some kind of intended blasphemy, not in a bad way, but
pleted a composition that, in general, called for devotion. And devotion was absolutely central in my case, so much that I decided
the triptychs had a central figure and two secondary lateral figures, forming a whole. They were three different images that com-
call an altar piece. In the Italian Renascence, the altar triptychs were quite common. The triptych had a religious inference; often
According to him, reuniting three photographs and making an altar-like composition, I have accomplished what the Englishmen
This is a series in which Alair puts together three images not necessarily forming a sequence creating a new type of movement.
The images of this series were taken by Alair with a telephoto lens, from the window of his apartment, on the sixth floor, in Ipanema.
imperceptible for someone who watches it in the time continuum. The empty space between each fragment is the fuel for imagination.
This kind of fractured narrative gives us the perception of a rhythmical and sensual choreography. Alair extracts from the scene an erotism, often
In this series, the artist alludes to musical composition to create sequences of images describing an action that happens in a well defined space-time,
Blessed I am, for having so many times worshiped the ascension and manifestation of the sacred of the world in the flesh of
their contours, the movements of their lean bodies revealing the perfection of their forms. Moments of worshiping:
journalists. Unconcerned by the competitions, Alairs eyes scrutinize the bodies of the young males focusing on their muscles,
athletes of various sports. But these photographic registers differ from those we often see in photographs taken by photo-
In these unpublished images, selected from Acervo Alair Gomes, from Biblioteca Nacional, in Rio de Janeiro, Alair photographs
Esportes
same character appears several times, mimicking the form in which we go around a sculpture an approach and form of
Its interesting that, although attentive to show the artistic manifestations in the urban space, Alair edits images in which the
MAM-RJ in 1969.
zilian and foreign artists after the invasion, by agents of the dictatorship, of the pr-Bienal dos Jovens de Paris exposition at
just visited the X Art Biennial in So Paulo, which was known as the boycott Biennial, marked by the manifestations of Bra-
love, sex and poetry were celebrated by Alair while he photographed the hippies and their art at Praa da Republica. He had
tarian echoes of the counterculture, which meaningfully changed the behavior of the society in the end of the 60s. Peace,
Exhibited for the first time, this series of 32 photographs taken in So Paulo shows how syntonized Alair was with the liber-
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A poltica do prazer
Meus grandes casos de amor comearam com uma viso_Alair Gomes
Alair Gomes nasceu em Valena, Rio de Janeiro, no ano de 1921. Graduou-se em Engenharia em 1944 e no ano seguinte foi nomeado engenheiro da Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil. Em 1948, renunciou ao cargo para se dedicar, por conta prpria, ao estudo e pesquisa da Fsica,
Matemtica, Lgica e Biologia. Em 1958, foi convidado pelo cientista e amigo Carlos Chagas Filho para lecionar no Instituto de Biofsica da
Universidade do Brasil, atual Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Graas sua atuao como pesquisador e professor, foi agraciado com
uma Bolsa Guggenheim de Filosofia, escolhendo ir para a Universidade de Yale / EUA, onde permaneceu de 1962 a 1963.
A formao cientfica legou fortes traos obra de Alair. O carter sistemtico, metdico, e a obsesso pela seriao das imagens e
na organizao de seus escritos, so parte de sua construo ontolgica, cuja sntese uma obra complexa e sofisticada onde todos os
Ao compor uma tica de si e para si, Alair constri um espao de resistncia no qual impe sua fala instituinte e constituinte. No longo
O desejo homoertico se revelou na adolescncia, quando experimentou as primeiras idealizaes afetivas do corpo masculino ao
percurso, elegeu o corpo jovem, pleno de teso, como potncia de excitao e promessa de felicidade.
testemunhar uma briga entre dois colegas de escola, na qual um deles caiu sangrando1. Ao capturar a lenda do heri ferido, h muito
erotizada no pathosgreco-romano e incorporada simbologia do martrio cristo, Alair inaugura sua mitologia particular.
O ingresso na vida adulta, sublinhado pelo catolicismo familiar, foi marcado pela crise depressiva e religiosa nos primeiros anos da
dcada de 1940. Os embates entre a f e o desejo esto em seus primeiros escritos e nos revelam um jovem confuso, beira de um
O seu primeiro Dirio Ertico, escrito entre maio e setembro de 1954, a minuciosa descrio da paixo avassaladora por um rapaz, morador
A escritura ntima transcorreu por toda a sua vida e resultou em mais de 20 mil folhas manuscritas.
a palavra, as histrias, os cantos que ajudam os homens a se lembrarem do passado e, tambm, a no se esquecerem do futuro.
A paixo pela fotografia comeou em 1965, quando viajou pela Europa por seis meses. De posse de uma Leica, visitou diversos museus e
comeou a fotografar, compulsivamente, esculturas e pinturas, dando nfase representao do nu masculino. Desse registro visual nasceu o
Journal en Europe, com apontamentos sobre a arte europeia antiga e moderna, vista sob o prisma do erotismo. Nas viagens que realizou pela
Europa e Estados Unidos, imagem e escrita caminharam juntas.
Em 1983, retornou ao Velho Mundo e produziu o relato, em forma de dirio de viagem, A New Sentimental Journey. Segundo ele: In the text,
the idea of trip itself, acquires some symbolic sense (...) provides the opportunity for the development of some views of very radical character
nicho editorial voltado para dirios ntimos e relatos homoerticos, o manuscrito foi cuidadosamente revisado e datilografado. No entanto,
(..) the relations between art and eroticism and the role of Eros in the human condition.4 Aspirando ser publicado no exterior e inserir-se no
para decepo do artista, o projeto no foi frente, recusado por editores sob a justificativa de que publicaes de escritos ntimos e dirios
de viagens haviam sado de moda.
A passagem da escrita ntima para o registro fotogrfico, segundo ele, se deveu necessidade de fazer um registro de meus grandes
envolvimentos amorosos (...) e de minha inconformidade com a passagem, no tempo, do que no tempo surge e se d como muito precioso.
Desse desejo nasceu a sua primeira grande composio sequencial, realizada entre 1966 e 1978: Symphony of Erotic Icons. Dedicada totalmente ao nu masculino, compreende um conjunto de 1.767 fotografias, reunidas em cinco movimentos: Allegro, Andantino, Andante, Adagio e
Finale. Para Gomes, a construo desse universo fotogrfico almejava transcender a sua personalidade, criando um estado protorreligioso.
Construes metafsicas parte, outro imperativo considerado na sua pragmtica do prazer era o tempo. Fotografar significava acelerar o
registro da paixo por P., personagem central da Symphony of Erotic Icons. Assim, sobraria tempo para as suas diversas tarefas cotidianas e
horas suficientes para am-lo: Havia decidido que, depois de ter-me entregue a uma fria fotogrfica dirigida avassaladoramente no sentido
de registro da beleza de garotos, eu podia deixar de escrever sobre essa beleza que o registro fotogrfico substituiria ento com vantagem
o registro antes escrito (...). Depois que voltei a me apaixonar ao ver P. e passar a viver com ele, decidi ainda que tambm desse novo grande
Alair Gomes elegeu Eros como filosofia e a fotografia como prtica cotidiana. Ele nos legou um patrimnio para alm da materialidade:
Na emergncia do amor, iluminados pela paixo, pelas luzes dos vaga-lumes (de Pasolini6) que resistem tais quais os flashes fotogrficos do
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Luciana Muniz_Curator of Alair Gomes Collection / Fundao Biblioteca Nacional / Rio de Janeiro
the man-desire, the man-eye-machine, we are all invited to insist in happier times!
In the emergence of love, illuminated by the passion, by the light of the fireflies (of Pasolini6) that endure just like the photographic flashes of
Alair Gomes elected Eros as his philosophy and photography as his everyday practice. He left us a heritage that transcends the material:
registry () After I fell in love again after seeing P. and started living with him, I also decided that from this new tremendous love the registry
of registry of the beauty of the young males, I could stop writing about this beauty that the photographic registry would substitute the written
tasks and enough hours to love him: I had decided that, after having surrendered to a photographic fury directed overwhelmingly to the sense
accelerating the registry of his passion for P., the central character of Symphony of Erotic Icons. This way, he would have time for his everyday
state. Metaphysical constructions aside, another imperative considered in his pragmatics of the pleasure was time. Photographing meant
Adagio e Finale. To Gomes, the construction of this photographic universe longed for transcending its personality, creating a proto-religious
Completely dedicated to male nudes it is made of a set of 1,767 photographies, assembled in five movements: Allegro, Andantino, Andante,
preciousness. From this desire was born his first major sequential composition, created between 1966 and 1978: Symphony of Erotic Icons.
love affairs (...) due to my non conformity with the passing of time, of things that rise along with time itself and results in something of utmost
The change from intimate writings to photographic record, according to him, came from his needs to leave behind a registry of my great
However, to the artists disappointment, the project didnt keep on, refused by editors under the excuse that publications of intimate writing
be inserted into the editorial niche aimed for intimate diaries and homoerotic stories, the manuscript was carefully reviewed and typewritten.
character (..) the relations between art and eroticism and the role of Eros in the human condition.4 Aspiring to be published overseas and to
In the text, the idea of trip itself, acquires some symbolic sense (...) provides the opportunity for the development of some views of very radical
In 1983, he returned to the Old World and put together a registry, in the form of a travel journal, A New Sentimental Journey. According to him:
Europe and the United States, imaging and writing walked together.
was born Journal en Europe, with notes about ancient and modern European art, seen through the prism of erotism. In his travels throughout
ums and started photographing, compulsively, sculptures and painting, emphasizing the male nude representation. From this visual registry
The passion for photography began in 1965, when he travelled throughout Europe for six months. Carrying a Leica, he visited several muse-
The intimate writings elapsed through all his life and resulted in more than 20 thousand written pages.
words, the histories, the songs that help men remember the past and, also, not forget the future.
less route, according to Gagnebin3, while studying Homers Odyssey, represents above all, a fight to keep the memory, therefore, to keep the
chive, he goes through his life, organizes and indexes the production of his diaries, his technical books and his readings. This heroic and tire-
Nothing was so simple. Writing, revising, correcting and back to writing are cyclic movements for Alair Gomes. Assembling his own ar-
which the cover sheet reads: Completely suppressed by a Portuguese version. Really? Perhaps not so simple.2
neighborhood, and also to every passing tram. The registry, originally written in English, was translated to Portuguese in another notebook, in
This is what I did, and my plan met success. There I went, around 10 in the morning, and stood watch, attentive and anxious to the corners of the
in a guesthouse in Copacabana: to spy on him close to the place he told me he lived, around the time which he should leave to the beach.
His first Erotic Diary, written between may and September of 1954, shows the detailed description of his crushing love for a boy, who lived
40s. The clashes between his faith and desires are in his first writings and reveal a confused young man, on the verge of a collapse, looking
Entering his adult life, underlined by the familiar Catholicism, he was marked by the depressive and religious crisis, in the first years of the
Greek and Roman pathos and incorporated to the symbology of the Christian martyr, Alair inaugurates his own private mythology.
ing a fight between two schoolmates, in which one of them fell, bleeding1. Capturing the legend of the wounded hero, long erotized in the
The homoerotic desire manifested in his adolescence, when he experimented his first affective idealizations of the male body after witness-
the way, he elected the young body, full of sexual desire, as a power of excitation and promises of happiness.
Composing a self ethics to himself, Alair creates a space of resistance in which he imposes his institutive and constitutive speech. Along
and organizing his writings, are part of his ontological constructions, which rounds up into a complex and sophisticated work where all ele-
The scientific background left strong traces to the work of Alair. The systematic, methodic character, and the obsession to seriating images
Fellowship in Philosophy, deciding to go to Yale University / USA, where he resided between 1962 and 1963.
do Brasil, currently Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to his works as a researcher and professor, he was granted a Guggenheim
ics, logic and biology. In 1958, he was invited by the scientist and friend Carlos Chagas Filho to teach at the Biophysics Institute of Universidade
engineer for the railway Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil. In 1948, he quit his job to dedicate, by himself, to the studies of physics, mathemat-
Alair Gomes was born Valena, Rio de Janeiro, in the year of 1921. He graduated in engineering in 1944 and in the next year he was appointed
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A reordenao do tempo
Minha inteno na composio serial a de substituir, mudar ou transformar o objeto de estudo. Na composio com imagens
estticas, como nasSonatinas, apresento um fenmeno que se desenvolve no tempo, mas o pretendo atemporal.
Minha ideia pode ser especificamente a de revelar algo que acontece entre o tempo e o no tempo, entre o parado e o mvel,
entre ser e tornar-se. Aceitar a mudana e ter f plenamente sem, entretanto, aceitar o correr do tempo em sentido literal.
Meu trabalho uma espcie de recriao do que passou; recriao na qual proponho uma mudana ou transformao de segunda
ordem; isto , uma outra ordem em relao mudana da forma com que o evento se desenrolou. No caso particular dasSonatinas,
cada uma composta por um evento que se desenrolou sem ser influenciado por mim. Os jovens rapazes no esto cientes de que
esto sendo observados e fotografados.
Pego um evento ocorrido no tempo linear e invento uma nova ordem para ele. Fao o melhor para evitar que a nova ordem parea
simplesmente como um novo desenrolar no tempo. A transio de uma imagem para outra , em muitos casos, propositalmente
feita de maneira a evitar a possvel iluso de mimetizar o desenrolar no tempo. Como numa sequencia de retratos:a b c d
e etc., ela feita de tal forma para evitar a iluso de quebseja um acontecimento dea.
Embaralhar, erotizar
NasSonatinas, Four Feet,h tambm um elemento de interpretao psicolgica. Claro que ele frequentemente responde aos meus prprios desejos, mas no vejo uma relao deccomb,dcomc etc. A nova ordem um embaralhamento de instantes ainda que cuidadosamente planejado.
Obviamente, tento acentuar o que deduzo ser a essncia do evento, ou aquilo que desejo que tivesse sido sendo que a deduo e o desejo talvez
no sejam nitidamente distintos um do outro. Nesse sentido, meu olhar essencialista e subjetivo.
Essencialismo e subjetividade so ou eram tidos como incompatveis. Meu embaralhamento do tempo nasSonatinaspode aumentar o erotismo
na relao entre os dois jovens rapazes. Quando acentuo esse elemento, desvio da represso atuante na relao.
Fao-o poeticamente, como um escritor de fico, e no como um psiclogo. No territrio da fico, posso induzir, por meio do reembaralhamento,
uma ideia de enredo, de drama. Isso to objetivo e verdadeiro quanto uma boafico de Stendhal, Flaubert, Balzac, Proust ou Hemingway. No que
eu use as imagens dos jovens rapazes nasSonatinascomo se fossem palavras, ou mesmo frases com as quais eu comporia meu pequeno romance.
mais que isso. Certo de que uso de uma licena potica e ficcional, tento me aproximar significativamente das motivaes centrais por trs do
evento fortemente erticas, ainda que represses atuem no trabalho.
Fragmentos extrados do dirio de Alair Gomes
Se a arte de nossos dias relaxou a angstia e deixou de refletir o tumulto e a incerteza em torno de ns, isto se deve descoberta ou, mais
precisamente, redescoberta de que a plena aceitao e afirmao desinibida do prazer so um modo de reagir, uma forma de protesto.
Muito mais em relao a esse fato do que em relao semelhana entre recursos expressivos e empregados, a obra de Greg Curno
evoca os hippies que oferecem venda seus poemas pintados, no contexto de sua fascinante tentativa de fruir o prazer, conservando
intactas as partes mais jovens dos olhos. Sem o sucesso dessa tentativa, por parte tambm dos artistas, a arte no teria garantido sua
maior liberdade ao tornar-se normativa.
A conscincia de nossa situao histrica no deve obliterar a conscincia do direito a uma distribuio no assassina do prazer. Como antirrenncia, o processo artstico ao mesmo tempo um protesto e uma afirmao, com liberdade no restringida ou falseada por programas
impostos. Perder ento apenas os aspectos mais passivos de espelho de seu tempo e de profecia do futuro para ter mais acentuado seu
carter de criao e inveno.
Trecho do dirio de Alair Gomes escrito em outubro de 1969, aps visita X Bienal de Arte de So Paulo. A obra de Greg Curno motivou-o a
fotografar os hippies na Praa da Repblica.
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Excerpt of Alair Gomes diary written in October 1969, after visiting X Bienal de Arte de So Paulo. The artwork of Greg Curno inspired him to
and invention.
lose only the most passive aspects of mirroring its time and prophesying its future in order to have an accentuated character for creation
anti-renounce, the artistic process is both a protest and a statement, with their liberties not restricted or faked by imposed schemes. It will then
The conscience of our historical situation shouldnt obliterate the conscience to a right for not suppressing the distribution of pleasure. As
eyes. Without succeeding in this attempt, also due to the artists themselves, art wouldnt have secured its freedom by becoming normative.
hippies that sell their painted poems, in the context of their fascinating attempt to enjoy pleasure, preserving intact the jolliest parts of their
Much more dealing with this fact than with the similarities among the expressive resources employed, the work of Greg Curno evokes the
or more precisely the rediscovery that the complete acceptance and uninhibited affirmation of pleasure are a way to react, a way to protest.
If the current day art has loosened the anguish and stopped reflecting the storm and the uncertainty around us, this is due to the discovery
be powerfully erotic, though there are also powerful repressions at the work
Aware that I use poetical and fictional license I intend to come significantly close to the core of motivations behind the event that can only
Not that I use the images of the young males in the Sonatinas as if they were words, or even phrases, with which I would compose my small
shuffling, some assertion of a plot, even of drama. This is as objective and true as any good novel by Stendhal, Flaubert, Balzac, Proust or Hemingway.
But of course I try to do it poetically, as a fiction writer, rather than an psychologist. Consenting on fiction in this sense, I may induce, through the re-
the erotic element in the relationship between the two young males. When I enhance that element I am just abating from the in the relationship.
Now, essentialism and advanced subjectivity are or were held to be incompatible. My reshuffling of time in the Sonatinas may a time enhance
distinct from each other. In this sense my approach is both profoundly essentialistic and subjective.
to bring out - what I infer that the essence of the event actually is; or what I wish it to have been the inference and the wish being not sharply
of b, d of c, etc. The new order is a reshufflement of instants though a very carefully planed reshufflement. As I do it I obviously try to exhibit
In the Sonatinas, 4 Feet there is also an element of psychological interpretation. Of course it often answers to my own wishes. But I dont see c
Reshuffle, eroticize
d e etc, is made in such a way as to avoid the illusion that b is a time development of a.
a way that it precludes the possible illusion that it is reproducing the development in time. Thus a sequence of pictures: a b c
simply another possible development in time. The transition from one picture to the next is in most cases purposely made in such
I take an event that has developed in time and invent a new order to it. I make my best to avoid the new order from looking like
is made of a particular event where development has not been at all influenced by me. The young males in are not aware at all
tion of a 2nd order; i.e. 2nd order in relation to change of the event such as it has developed. Particularly to the Sonatinas, each
My work tends thus to be a sort of re-creation of what has been; a re-creation in which I myself introduce change or transforma-
being and becoming. Accept change and trust quite fully - without, however, accepting the course of time in its literal sense.
My mean may be specifically to reveal something, as if between time and no-time, as if between stillness and movement, between
ages, the Sonatinas clearly illustrate this, I present a phenomenon developed in time, up to an extent as if timeless.
My aim in the serial composition is to substitute change or transform the object of work. In a sense, a composition with still im-
Esses garotos tm uma conscincia extremamente ntida da sua excepcional beleza; tm a mais do que justificvel necessidade de
exibir essa beleza. E um dos modos mais autnticos, genunos e justos que eles tm de fruir a sua prpria beleza exibi-la em pblico. bvio que, no ntimo de sua personalidade, um garoto desses exige homenagem sua prpria beleza; que ele saia em lugar
pblico exibindo seu corpo, nada para ele pode ser mais natural do que receber uma homenagem beleza dele. Em ltima anlise,
creio que, quando eles me percebem fotografando obsessivamente, entendem isso como uma homenagem que estou prestando
beleza deles, e isso deve torn-los satisfeitos. verdade que, pela quantidade fantstica de preconceitos sociais, eles imediatamente identificam a atrao que esto exercendo sobre mim como homossexualismo de minha parte. Principalmente em pblico,
eles no querem compactuar com isso. De modo que a atitude, na imensa maioria dos casos, fingir que ignoram que estou fotografando. Entretanto, ele se deixa fotografar. De qualquer maneira, aquilo uma justa homenagem que ele est recolhendo. Vrios
deles agem de maneira natural e espontnea, sem que isso queira dizer absolutamente que pretendam vir para a cama comigo ou
mesmo que aceitariam um convite meu. Eles vm falar comigo. Os protestos existem tambm, mas felizmente so rarssimos.
A sequncia fotogrfica
Eu tambm comecei a sentir a necessidade de uma estruturao desse acmulo de imagens. Eu tinha a conscincia ntida de que minhas
imagens isoladas a mim satisfaziam integralmente, porque elas respondiam ao gnero do fascnio do ertico que eu sentia. Eu no tinha a
necessidade de poder cham-las de arte, mas comeou a se intensificar cada vez mais dento de mim a necessidade de refinar e de elaborar a minha expresso fotogrfica, de modo que eu pudesse transmiti-la em um nvel artstico a outras pessoas. Ora, foi considerando esse
potencial fantstico da construo da imagem pictrica em relao imagem fotogrfica, o domnio muito maior que o pintor tem sobre
sua imagem em relao ao fotgrafo, e considerando tambm a minha tendncia a tomadas de imagem quase obsessiva, que eu devo ter
compreendido que meu caminho ambicioso tinha que ser o da sequncia fotogrfica e no o da imagem nica. Em princpio, ele j respondia
minha tendncia obsessiva. Depois, ento, veio o caso da comparao com a pintura. Por meio da imagem mltipla, eu tinha a impresso
de que estava recorrendo a um recurso da fotografia que a pintura no tinha, que exatamente a capacidade de tomar vrias imagens sucessivas, relativamente prximas entre si, do mesmo assunto, e entretanto cada uma delas mostra uma certa novidade, um certo aspecto novo,
esse objeto de interesse que vale a pena observar, que vale a pena ser enfatizado.
Trechos da entrevista de Alair Gomes concedida ao diplomata e fotgrafo Joaquim Paiva em 1983, publicada na revista ZUM n. 6
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Excerpts from the interview of Alair Gomes to the diplomat and photographer Joaquim Paiva in 1983, published in ZUM magazine n. 6.
is worth emphasizing.
subject, and however each one of them presents a certain novelty, a certain new aspect, an object of interest that is worth watching, that
not possible for painting, which is exactly the capability of taking several successive images, relatively close to one another, on the same
comparison to painting. Through the multiple imaging, I was under the impression I was resorting to a resource of photography that was
sequencing and not that of the lone image. In principle, this already answered my obsessive tendency. Later, then, came the case of the
my tendency to almost obsessively take pictures, that I must have realized that my ambitious route should be that of the photographic
the photographical image, the much greater power that the painter has for his image compared to the photographer, and also considering
transmit it in an artistic level to other people. Now, it was considering this fantastic potential to constructing a pictorial image in relation to
but it started to intensify more and more inside me the need to refine and elaborate my photographical expression, in a way that I could
completely, because they were an answer to the genre of erotic fascination that I felt. I didnt have the need to be able to call them art,
I also started to feel the need to structure this cluster of images. I was sharply conscious that my isolated images could satisfy myself
that meaning they would absolutely come to bed with me or that they would accept my invitation. They come to talk to me. Pro-
to be photographed. In a way, that is a fair tribute he is taking. Most of them act naturally and spontaneously, without however
way that their attitude, in the vast majority of cases, is to pretend they ignore Im not photographing. However, he allows himself
are exerting over me as some kind of homosexuality from my part. Above all, in public, they dont want to condone to this. In a
them satisfied. It is true that, due to the overwhelming number of social prejudices, they immediately identify the attraction they
they notice me photographing obsessively, they understand this as a tribute I am paying to their beauty and that should make
showing off his body, nothing to him could be more natural than receiving a tribute to his own beauty. Lastly, I believe that, when
Its clear that, in their innermost personalities, one of these boys demands a tribute to his own beauty; when he goes out in public
this beauty. And one of the most authentic, genuine and just ways that they have to enjoy their own beauty is to show it in public.
These boys have are evidently extremely self-conscious of their exceptional beauty; they have the most justified urge to show
I needed, in a sense, to live from photography. And at the same time that I needed to live from photography I had the need of a direct contact
mical side to this which follows: in principle, the Symphony was composed to never be commercialized. ()
Now I am really conscious of the unpractical character of the contact of this composition with the public. But there is also a practical, econo-
to insist in this so much, so much that suddenly both categories were transcended. I needed a fantastic amount of images to get this effect.
frequently it could be called pornographic and I never refused the possibility of my photography being called pornographic but I wanted
I wanted to make the Symphony as some kind of test for the spectator, to see who would pass I insisted so much in the openly erotic, that
that at the Guggenheim maybe there would be enough linear space to exhibit this artwork.
allow for the exhibition of the Symphony for a large audience, in a projector room. Out of that, it would be necessary to imagine, for example,
a rather large format, 30 x 40 cm. It creates a very complicated and heavy problem for its exhibition. Only a complex system of slides could
The fist pretentious creation I made was the Symphony. But I am conscious that the Symphony is a white elephant. Its 1,767 photographs in
worldview in the philosophical sense. This is some kind of belief that I had for a long time, but it was the kind of belief that one must admit,
point of view. It would almost be like trying to do, through the simple accumulation of images of the young male body, the equivalent to a
dance of this image would, lastly, work as some kind of equivalence to a worldview, of a Weltanschauung, from an almost philosophical
for me. I came to think several times that, if I insisted enough on taking photographic pictures of the young male body, simply the abun-
sophy, and I was interested especially for some kind of description or characterization of the natural reality. This was conscientious even
improoved. This would certainly limit my approach. I took some time and you know that I worked a lot with philosophy, in natural philo-
tendency to mass producing images was in contradiction to the inclination of producing the most perfect photographic image, greatly
number of images of this genre. The image of the male body, young and beautiful, almost suffocated me. At first, this almost irresistible
My obsession for the image of the male body must be taken in very direct terms, very literal. I had the urge to create a larger and larger
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Notas de rodap
A poltica do Prazer
1
vo Alair Gomes, Biblioteca Nacional, RJ. [Completamente suprimido pela verso em portugus. Verdade?
Talvez no to simples.](trad. autor).
3
Printing
Curatorial advice
Luciana Muniz
Molduras
Projeto Expogrfico
Frames
Expographic Project
Votupoca
So Paulo [1969]
Cenografia
Scenography
Emerson Santos
Milena Galli
Projeto de Iluminao
Assistente de Produo
Lightening Project
Production Assistant
Alessandra Domingues
Montagem
Assistente de Arte
Art Mounting
Art Assistant
Ccero Bibiano
Evelyn Leine
Assessoria de Imprensa
Traduo
Press Office
a 1974]
Translation
Adelante Cultural
Agradecimentos
e 1978]
Reviso
Joaquim Paiva
Proofreading
Marcello Giulian
Paulo Fehlauer
e 1978]
Making of
Eno
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PERCURSOS
Alair Gomes