Social Elevator

Rubens Gerchman made his first solo show at Vila Rica gallery, Rio de Janeiro, in 1964. The following year he received recognition for another exhibition at Relevo gallery—to which renowned art critic Mário Pedrosa wrote the introductory text—and for his participation in Opinião 65, at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro. In 1966, he partnered with Antônio Dias, Roberto Magalhães, Carlos Vergara, and Pedro Escosteguy for a collective exhibition that established a new Carioca figuration as opposed to the abstract one which had taken over the Brazilian art scene the previous decade. Gerchman’s neofigurative artworks featured political issues with caustic humor and motives stemming from mass media. Some of the themes appearing in Gerchman’s trajectory are the dictatorship, the world of work, popular masses, soccer, and life in poor sectors in society. They are not explicitly treated, but rather suggested through figures or words conducive to various interpretations. Elevador social summarizes those motives and traits, and includes political criticism by disclosing the issue of social mobility, in a language quite close to pop.