Here's something truly remarkable. I just got a note from Brazilian painter Gonçalo Ivo, with a group of images of the construction of a second huge studio on his land in Teresopolis. His most recent work is leading him into the realm of gigantic scaled paintings which require much more space. While the whole undertaking at first seems mind boggling, the notion of this new space as the beginning of an ambitious new body of work is very exciting. Gonçalo is asserting his interest in the painting as a physical and psychological environment that allows the viewer to literally enter its world. I think he envisions paintings that, not unlike Serra sculptures, have the ability to completely engulf the viewer in direct experience of color relations and surface. I look forward to the results.
Gonçalo Ivo studio #2 in progress, Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ceiling height of the left hand wall is more than 20 feet.
Looking the other direction
The Crew
Gonçalo Ivo, 2009, details of a new 18.5 x 22 ft painting, inspired by a 12th century Spanish chapel, being completed in his existing studio, Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
All photos by Gonçalo Ivo 
