“Oh, do I have fun!”: Mira Schendel’s monotypes

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to point out how some questions traditionally restricted to the realm of philosophy are thought of in a no less significant way through art, particularly from a series of drawings by the Brazilian artist Mira Schendel (1919-1988), the series known as Monotypes. With this, we seek to show how it is possible to understand a specific form of thinking that takes place through artistic practice, especially in contemporary art. In the particular case of Schendel, it is believed that this thinking is a fundamental element of her poetics, i.e., a determining factor in the definition of her present time. To emphasize the fact that the artist assumed her work as a way of thinking in and through art is to admit that a thematic reading of the history of art cannot account for this production. And it reflects the interdisciplinary character of much of the artistic production of the second half of the 20th century.