MICHAEL DE BRITO – Larger Than Life

Press Release

Eleanor Ettinger Gallery and Arte Institute are pleased to present the most recent works of artist Michael De Brito in his third solo exhibition.  The show will be the gallery’s first exhibition at their new location in Chelsea and the first multimedia show in its history. To celebrate the show, the gallery will host an opening reception on the evening of June 2, 2011 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For his “Larger Than Life” exhibit, De Brito will utilize different mediums to trigger the senses and create the illusion of transporting the audience to the scenes from his works. The show will consist of nine large scale oil paintings accompanied by the artist’s first video installation. De Brito is also installing a replica of the kitchen which is the setting for many of his works. “Larger Than Life” will include De Brito’s largest scale works created to date.

“With my ‘Larger Than Life’ exhibit, my goal is to bridge the gap between myself and the viewer. Both the video installation and the kitchen replica help bring my paintings to life and give the audience a deeper emotional connection to my work,” said De Brito. The video installation “Novela” is the artist’s first experimentation with motion pictures.  The silent movie is a visual replica of the painting “Novela 2009” and will be projected on a large screen alongside the painting.   “Novela” is De Brito’s first collaboration with his sister Andrea who helped produce and edit the piece. It is a portrait of a woman eating alone in her basement kitchen as she gazes into the distance.  
The nine oil paintings portray different groups of people in a variety of settings including the beach, a backyard barbeque and a basement kitchen. De Brito’s subjects appear to interact with the viewer on a personal level. Suddenly one can begin to hear the fragmented conversations of his subjects, the scraping of forks against ceramic plates, the uncorking of a bottle of wine, even the subtle pull on a cigarette.
Using a full palette of color and broad, heavy brush strokes, De Brito conveys the mood of a scene with palpable precision.  The paintings “Backyard Cronies” and “Cake Maker” capture the eye with earth tones against more saturated hues which creates a delicately balanced color composition.  
The exhibit will also include the artist’s largest paintings created to date: the massive duo “Women on Faro Beach” and “Men of Faro Beach,” use colors from the opposite end of spectrum, bringing to life the drowsy bliss of a beach day. With an acute sense of light and movement De Brito captures what appear to be ordinary moments with such aptitude that the audience is drawn into these lifelike scenes almost imperceptibly. Each painting measures six feet by eight feet.
In an effort to create a tangible experience for the audience, De Brito also will install a replica of the kitchen that has been the setting of many of his paintings in the past and which continues to play a role in his most recent works. The kitchen will allow the audience to interact with the recurring objects that have for so long been visible in his scenes.
“Larger Than Life” will be on display through July 2, 2011 at Eleanor Ettinger Gallery’s Chelsea location, which is located at 511 West 25th Street. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tues. through Sat. and is open to the public.