BODIES IN RESISTANCE: THE TANGIBILITY OF GRAVITY

Tulio Pinto’s sculptural practice has long been rooted in the poetic tensions of material weight, balance, and resistance— forces that, while omnipresent, often go unnoticed. In Gravitas, Pinto expands upon these core investigations by introducing a new element into his visual and conceptual lexicon: the human body.

Across two distinct yet interrelated bodies of work introduced in separate gallery spaces— monumental black and white photographic portraits and gravity defying sculptural installations—Gravitas makes the intangible force of weight and equilibrium visible, pushing the limits of perception and material expectations.

For the gallery space titled Act I, Pinto collaborates with photographer Eduardo Rezende to present a series of striking photographic works that engage with the body’s capacity to bear, resist, and yield to mass. Departing from the classical sculptural tradition in which the artist carves or molds inert material into form, the artists invert the equation: in these images, the raw, unaltered stone becomes the sculptor, pressing its weight upon the human figure. The models— selected for their diverse body types—interact with these stones not as passive subjects but as active participants in a performance of force and endurance. Hands grip, arms strain, and torsos bend; the body is sculpted not through artistry but through its negotiation with resistance.

If the photographic works and the interactive element in Act I reveal gravity’s impact through bodily exertion, Pinto’s sculptural installations in Act II— the second gallery space—manifest it through material contradiction. Long engaged with industrial materials such as steel and stone, Pinto now introduces glass as a structural component in the shape of chains—an intervention that challenges conventional notions of fragility. Glass, traditionally perceived as brittle and breakable, is here rendered in the form of chains, a material typically associated with strength, endurance, and the ability to bear weight. By suspending stones using these links made out of glass, Pinto forces a reconsideration of assumed material properties: what appears weak becomes a carrier of mass, and what seems unmovable is, in fact, held in delicate suspension.

In Gravitas, photographs reveal the human body’s negotiation with this force, while the sculptures dramatize the unseen but omnipresent force of gravity through improbable material unions. In both cases, the act of holding, suspending, and enduring becomes a way of making gravity—an otherwise invisible phenomenon—tangible, present, and, ultimately, deeply human.

Tulio Pinto (b. 1974, Brazil) lives and works in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Playing with gravity, he explores the subtle balance of weight and matter through installations and sculptures. Using materials of opposing nature and behavior, he translates the pulse of the physical world to be reflected in the world of human relations. Having only graduated from UFRGS with a degree in visual arts specializing in sculpture in 2009, Tulio is incredibly focused and prolific; He is also a co-founder and member of the Atelier Subterrânea.

Eduardo Rezende (b. 1977, Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. He has an award-winning career in the fashion world specializing in outdoor photoshoot. And he has always lent his sensitivity to the body-landscape relationship to these photographic essays. Since his first solo show in 2006 at Galeria Valu Oria, he has been holding solo exhibitions such as THE NOMAD ANO THE HOUSES, Urban Flow, and Art In Progress.

Gravitas Act I & II will be on display from March 15 until May 17, 2025, at The Piero Atchugarry Gallery, located at 5520 NE 4th Avenue, Miami FL 33137 (United States).