Centro Cultural Brasil

Machado: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was a canonic Brazilian writer.

For my museum visit, I rode my skateboard to the Bea Art Hall Gallery, which is actually the hallway of the Centro Cultural Brasil in New York. They are showing about 10 pieces, all of which are inspired by the writing of Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, a novelist, short story writer, and poet, who lived and worked during the 19th century. The pieces invoked images of Brazil, which is only natural since Machado de Assis never left Rio de Janeiro. One painting jumped out at me, because the whole canvas, about the size of my midsection, displayed two toucans. I could not fully translate the Machado quotation next to the painting, and so I asked for the only employee there to help me translate. The words read something along the lines of “God, you have given man a face or friendship. Devil, you have made men confused between love and friendship.” And the picture was of two toucans. The woman said that the toucans were specific to the Amazon, and represented Brazil. Another instillation piece had leaves strewn about on a shelf. All of the leaves were green, yellow, and black, which I took to represent the Brazilian flag. There were some portraits of Machado de Assis, one of which had lines of his writing spewing out of his mouth. To tell the truth, the art itself did not give me any particular impression of Brazil, or even of Machado de Assis’ works. The Center seemed like a great place for cultural immersion. They host weekly film screenings in Portuguese with English subtitles, and there are various events all the time. The woman working there was originally from China, but she spoke Portuguese, and she told me that Brazilian people are “passionate about everything they do.” The center is entered through a small door with protruding portal that barely reached above my head. I had to ring a bell to be buzzed in. I think that the Centro is funded by the government of Brazil. Despite this very close connection, there was not much that separated it from any regular New York City basement space. One hallway and an office and a room designated for film screenings.