 *Noum(plural MAPS): To discover something and create a visual representation of it. "Everybody needs a map to understand the physical world we live in. We look to maps to understand the spiritual world, as in astrology, for example. We need maps to understand each other in this constant exploration. An exploration of both the extent of the galaxy and the depths of our own inner-space." Joao Machado, Los Angeles, 2006 *Webster dictionary/pocket edition 2006. PLACE CURSOR OVER IMAGE FOR MAGNIFYING GLASS |
Spaghetti, 2006, map collage, 40 x 50 cm
Swimming, 2007, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Tub, 2006, map collage, 40 x 50 cm
The kiss, 2007, map collage, 40 x 50 cm
Couple, 2006, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Melancholia, 2008, map collage, 160 x 160 cm
Vivian, 2007, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Belt, 2007, map collage, 170 x 120 cm
Melancholy girls, 2007, map collage, 124 x 80 cm
African war dance, 2007, map collage, 45 x 76 cm
African war dance 2, 2009, map collage, 160 x 160 cm
Alfie, 2008, map collage, 220 x 160 cm
Barbazul, 2007, map collage, 66 x 45 cm
Couple, 2006, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
The necklace, 2007, map collage, 150 x 85 cm
Kids, 2009, map collage, 160 x 160 cm
Gabi, 2006, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Nude study, 2007, map collage, 45 x 61 cm
The romantiks, 2007, map collage, 50 x 45 cm
Home is where the heart is, 2007, anatomy book collage, 80 x 50 cm
My body is a meat truck carrying a brain, 2007, map collage, 170 x 100 cm
 Place cursor over image for magnifying glass. |
Collage cruzes, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Collage 2, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Batalha naval, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Apocalipstickwargasm, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
Handsome devil, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
The merry widow, 2009, map collage, 125 x 180 cm
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Marionettes, 2008, ink over gift paper, 125 x 180 cm
Tea, 2008, ink over map, 125 x 180 cm
Widow, 2008, ink over map, 125 x 180 cm
Sonata No.1, 2007, ink over music partiture, 125 x 180 cm
Sonata (detail), 2007, ink over music partiture, 125 x 180 cm
8 Sonata pieces, 2007, ink over music partiture, 125 x 180 cm
 Lambda print on plexi glass mount 125 x 180cm Place cursor over image for magnifying glass. |
 The Photo-play “The Amputees” has a cinematic narrative approach, also influenced by comic books, graphic art, illustrated story books and the “photonovelas” popular in Mexico and Italy during the first half of the 20th century. You can see the full digital version here or you can buy the english Hardcover Premium Paper version online deliverered to your home. Copyright ©2005 João Machado Registered at the National Library of Brazil. VIEW COMPLETE BOOK > NEXT SLIDE To acquire the english version, please follow the badge below.  |
 Joao Machado´s work is part of Katharine Harmon´s book ´The Map As Art´ together with other map-related artistic visions by well-known artists—such as Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, Olafur Eliasson, Maira Kalman, William Kentridge, and Vik Muniz—and many more. Essays by Gayle Clemans bring an in-depth look into the artists' maps of Joyce Kozloff, Landon Mackenzie, Ingrid Calame, Guillermo Kuitca, and Maya Lin. Together, the beautiful reproductions and telling commentary make this an essential volume for anyone open to exploring new paths. To know more about it or buy it please follow this link. ISBN 9781568987620 10 x 9 inches (25.4 x 22.9 cm), Hardcover , 256 pages 360 color illustrations In print (publication date 11/4/2009) A PAPress publication; Rights: World; Carton qty: 10 (5716.1714) |
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 "Solitude beach" is the name of the coast where many whale bones where found during the 70's and 80's.These bones pertained to whales who were hunted there over 100 years ago. Senhor Xavier lived in the house depicted in these photos and it was his hobby to dive and fish out these bones from the depths of the sea. It took him 20 years to produce this "bone garden". I was fortunate to have made his acquaintance and it was always his concern, to raise the awareness of the cruelty done to whales. Old age and financial difficulties forced him to sell his home and move to a retirement home.It was his wish that his bones where turned into sculptures and I was honored to have been chosen for such a task. This series is dedicated to him. 1-13 - finding & collecting whalebones 14-26 - sculptures in whalebone. |
 Once the whalebones were safely stored in my studio, I began a long process of figuring out how to approach them as sculptures. It would have been downright sacriligious to interfere with them to the point where they became unrecognizable. My instinct kept telling me that I had to be minimalistic and extra careful with whatever other materials I were to use. Any use of color was imediately discarded and I found there to be a pleasant marriage of textures between bone and solid aluminum. Bone and transparent resin. Bone and electro-static silver coating. Bone and crystal. The word “dislocation” came to me and became a sort of mantra for the entire process. Not only were these bones violently dislocated from the whale’s body, these bones were dislocated from the bottom of the sea and into a fisherman’s yard. Later, dislocated again into my studio and then into a museum. From an underwater creature living in the end of the 19th century, to the walls of a modern art museum in 2008. It was this change, or this possibility of change that fascinated me and made me think of the life of things, and sometimes, beyond life itself. Transformation as a change from within, dislocation as an external change.  I have spent many years of my life traveling, and I can relate with the feeling of not pertaining to any particular place or group. In other words, I have often felt “dislocated” or in this case, like “ a fish out of water”. It’s a certain type of strangeness. A forced introspection. It can be like watching your own life from outside, detached. It can be painful. It can be many things but I don’t know anyone who hasn’t experienced this. It is in our nature for it is in nature. With minimal research, I came into a world of literary, biblical and pop cultural references linking the giant mamal to this theme of dislocation/transformation. From pinocchio to Jonas and the whale, the list goes on and on. My favorite, is a Joseph Campbell quote from his book “the hero with thousand faces” “The Idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died. No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.” The Belly of the Whale Series was first presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Santa Catarina Brazil, May 8th 2008. The execution of the pieces was partly funded by Thomas Hayes and Jeremy Petty of NohoModern in Hollywood, California. PLACE CURSOR OVER IMAGE FOR MAGNIFYING GLASS |
Dance me to the end of love, 2008, whale rib and aluminum wheels
Equinox, 2008
Hotel particulier, 2008, whale verbrates and metal
In every dream home a heartache, 2008, whale pallet bone and stainless steel conveyor belt
Pavane for a dead princess, 2008, whale rib bones and aluminum rods
Planet caravan, 2008, whale jaw bone, powder coat paint and metal parts
Seventeen seconds, 2008, whale rib bones and glass
Thieves like us, 2008, whale rib bones and aluminum rods
This room is my castle of quiet, 2008, whale rib bones and glass
Valentine, 2008, whale rib bone and aluminum, 200 cm tall
Venus in furs, 2008, whale vertebrate bone and solid aluminum cones, 24 x 50 cm
You go to my head, 2008, whale rib bones and aluminum bolts, 120 x 200 cm
 I had been to a Dan Flavin exhibition at the Lacma in L.A. and was struck by a particular untitled piece. A grid of multicolored lit neon tubes was propped up against the corner of a room in an otherwise totally empty cube. “Why the hell is it there, I thought?” After seeing the whole show, I still couldn’t stop thinking about it and I came back several times. I later found some essays of Flavin and from critics using the word “assault”. According to them, that piece is placed in the corner because it is intentionally trying to create a sense of uneasiness. More then that, it’s flat out aggressive. It’s an assault on the norm of where a sculpture should be (not nicely centered). An assault on the conventions of what a sculpture is (this was a few lit neon tubes). It’s also a spatial assault, the tubes were all “ganged” up together and looked like they were about to attack the room. Another one of his pieces, also propped up in the corner was called “monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush”. This feeling was very much present in those pieces and it opened my eyes to new possibilities in sculpture. There are 2 versions of it, one in solid aluminum and the other multicolored. |
Assault, 2008, pile of 100 solid aluminum bones
Assault 2, 2008, pile of 100 multicolored chromed aluminum bones
Detail of individual bone, 2008, Solid aluminum (3Kg)
 Work commissioned by Sony for the tv show Brazil´s next top model. |
 Part documentary, part fiction. Sons of Saturn is a narrative experiment that tells a fictional story with the use of real archival footage of a family. A grandfather, a father and a son, bound by a legacy that goes beyond the intertwining branches of their family tree. A bond beyong time, beyong distance. A pact sealed in the dawn of time under the sign of Saturn.  
WATCH FULL FEATURE ON THIS SITE > NEXT SLIDE Color Super8,16mm,Video,Photographs/ 60 minutes/2007 |
 Based on a letter written by Jonathan Hacke, an artist and mental patient at a psychiatric institution. “The Champagne Club” is a shocking and profoundly innovative journey in the heart of madness. Four thrill-seeking aristocrats of the Los Angeles art scene set out on a vacation to an exotic tropical villa. There, they find exquisite foods,the finest champagne, an abundance of drugs, and all the time in the world to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. In the peak of excess, they stumble upon a new, and very strange kind of thrill: madness.   The Champagne Club "madness is priceless" CAST Tim - Brian Donovan May - Sara Rinde Bruce - Robert Ripley Connie - Jacqueline Meyer Painter - Juarez Machado Maid - Thais Lopes CREW Writer/Director - Joao Machado A Master Shot / Camden Drive Production Executive Producer - Eliane Carvalho Produced by Ivan Teixeira & Leonard Emrick Director of Photography - Jonah Torreano Editor - Howard Heard Art Direction - Zeca Nolf Food Design- Eliane Carvalho Original Soundtrack - Julio Medaglia & Amilson Godoy WATCH TRAILER > NEXT SLIDE Color/35mm/85 minutes/2001 |
 SAL (Salvatore Froio), a lonely limousine driver, meets a woman, SHIRLEY (Harlee Moccia), who desperately needs to get across the country to pay her deliquent son´s bail. Sal agrees to take her on this journey, and in order to earn the money to save her child, Shirley has to sellher body in the frequent truck stops and gas stations she finds on the way. The drama ensues as they encounter a depraved COWBOY (Egon Kafka). Sal can only attempt to understand the bizarre world this road trip has taken him into. Madness, joy, tragedy, and tenderness all travel side by side in the vastness of the American highway.   CAST Limo Driver SALVATORE FROIO Shirley HARLEE MOCCIA Cowboy EGON KAFKA Voice Over WILLIAM KNIGHT CREW Writer, Director and Producer JOAO MACHADO Director of Photography JONAH TORREANO Editor JOAO MACHADO & YUMIKO YAMADA Sound Design TRACK DESIGN WATCH SHORT > NEXT SLIDE Color/ 16mm/ 11 minutes/ 1998 |
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 The Sant'anna coffee farm dates from 1760 and is a colonial landmark located in the historic "Coffee Valley", just 2 hours from Rio de Janeiro. It was purchased by my family in the 1960's. I chose to make the studio in the old stocking warehouse because of the vast open space, high ceilings and large windows. The stocking wherehouse is surrounded by a lush private forrest with it's own waterfall and plenty of bicentennial trees. |
 SOLO SHOWS 2009 LAWS OF SILENCE Galeria peçaúnica - Rio de Janeiro 2009 COLLAGES Galerie Valmay - Paris 2009 DISLOCATION NoHo Modern - Los Angeles 2008 MAPAS/DESLOCAMENTO Museum of Modern Art - Joinville 2008 JOAO MACHADO Galeria Bahiarte - Londrina GROUP SHOWS 2008 RITES OF PASSAGE/THE MORTALITY OF TIME Nave Gallery - MA - USA 2007 CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICAN ART LAAS - Los Angeles - USA 2007 FIGURES & FORCES Jan Baum Gallery - Los Angeles - USA FILM WRITER/DIRECTOR 2006 "SONS OF SATURN" FEATURE FILM BEST FEATURE Atlanta Underground Film Festival 2001 "THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB" 35mm FEATURE FILM BEST PICTURE Seattle Underground Film Festival BEST PHOTOGRAPHY Tribeca´s Indievision Film Festival 2000 "ESTETYKA" 16mm SHORT FILM BEST SHORT - Rochester Film Festival BEST SHORT - Santa Monica Film Festival BEST SHORT - Fantasporto Film Festival TV 2009 FOX 9mm Sao Paulo - Writing team 2008 SONY Brazil´s Next Top Model - Guest artist 2004 REDE GLOBO Os Normais - Writing team THEATER 2007 VIAGARA FALLS Written by Joao Machado and Lou Cutell. Directed by Bob Crichton Cast: Harold Gould Costumes by Bob Mackie 2008 O ULTIMO BOLERO Written by Joao Machado Directed by Gracindo jr. Cast: Francisco Cuoco e Chico Tenreiro. PUBLICATIONS 2009 “THE MAP AS ART - CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS EXPLORE CARTOGRAPHY” Katherine Harmon - Princeton architectural press. 2008 "MAPS BY JOAO MACHADO" Compilation of map art 2004 "THE AMPUTEES" Photoplay - Editions Terre Noire ACADEMIC TRAINING 1996-1999 ART CENTER COLLEGE - Los Angeles - USA BFA - BAchelor´s Degree of Fine Arts in Film 1996 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY - NYC - USA Intensive study in Film & Television 1995 ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS - Paris - France |
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 Em SP, os roteiristas da série 9mm: São Paulo, exibida pelo canal Fox, da TV paga, João Machado, Michael Ruman, Marc Bechar e Joana Oliveira, conferem o lançamento do livro O Sorriso da Morte, baseado na atração.  Revista CARAS- Edição 809 - AGENDA: NOITE DE AUTÓGRAFOS (Read more...) |
 The Nave Gallery, P.O. Box 43600, Somerville, MA 02143 'Rites of Passage: The Mortality of Time' Exhibit dates: 29 March-26 April. Reception: 29 March.ABOUT THE SHOW Curated by Kathy Desmond and Lauren O’Neal. CURATORIAL STATEMENT Rites of Passage: The Mortality of Time features contemporary art that explores issues of aging, time, mortality and death in a variety of media. Perhaps is it our inherent self-centeredness that makes these topics seem so germane and so urgent to our own personal life: What will happen when I get old? What will be like to die? Objects, materials, and moments have their own mortality as well—one material shifts into another, with a passing that is not necessarily commemorated with tears and wreaths, but that is certainly worthy. To consider mortality in any circumstance is to consider time, and the works in Rites of Passage all consider change as a marker of time: of time arrested, of action and inaction, growth, decay, and potential: What might happen next (time)? The mortality of the body is one area of focus. While this would seem a commonplace interpretation, the artists in Rites of Passage investigate not only the frailty of the body under stress of illness or age, but also the way we mark or record these changes in visual terms. The act of marking then is a way to participate in the very existence we hold so dear: it keeps us here, it identifies us, it allows us to process changes and explore new possibilities for being human. Mark-making, as a challenge to, or sometimes an acknowledgement of, the passage of time, is ultimately a gesture of action and engagement, rather than of futility. The mark of a line becomes a map, a pathway, or a way to imagine the future. Marks also explore our awareness of time passing and the urge to capture or record it—a dual perspective on our physicality and our consciousness. We have a contentious relationship with time. It is, after all, the thief of mortality. By the same token, we are endlessly fascinated by its effects. Artists in Rites of Passage: The Morality of Time investigate these themes through a range of media, including photography, video, painting, sculpture, and mixed media. Within the work there is curiosity, fear, contemplation, humor, and hope. Sons of Saturn ***** 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Eastside Lounge, 285-A Flat Shoals Ave. 404-521-9666. This experimental compilation film from Brazilian director Joao Machado uses archival family photographs and video to tell the story of three generations of luckless, social-climbing men. It's hard to tell what is true and what is false in Machado's intriguing tale of greed, self-deception and failure. (Read more...) |
| A trajetória do olhar para dentro
Através das colagens com mapas, o artista João Machado retrata diversas formas de deslocamento Djulia Justen É como se o caminho percorrido tivesse impresso uma marca, um rastro, uma trilha de pedras, migalhas deixadas para trás. Para voltar ao início, para rememorar um passado ou para simplesmente deixar sua marca na terra. E este caminho não é feito com destino certo, trajetória linear e perfeita. Não se tem um mapa para saber para onde vai ou onde está. A única coisa certa é estar em movimento, uma busca contínua num labirinto às escuras. Mas se fosse possível olhar para trás, os rabiscos que deixei na terra o que formariam? Um rosto triste ou um semblante perdido na imensidão do eu? Os recortes que formam a mostra “Mapas-Deslocamento”, do artista plástico e cineasta João Machado, são o caminho do “olhar para dentro”: pedaços de mapas que formam rostos, partes de ossos que formam objetos, pedaços de si que formam lembranças, memórias de uma vida despedaçada, entrecortada de alegrias e tristezas, dores e gozos. Vida essa também dividida pela distância, pela mudança de lugar, de casa, de escola, de cidade, de país. Do ponto de partida ao ponto de chegada. Da chegada a um novo encontro. Outra saída. O deslocamento de si mesmo sem precisar sair do lugar: a introspecção, processo que reconfigura pontos de vista, maneiras de ver a vida: em pedaços ou inteira, partes que formam o todo, a parte que também é o todo. Estou inteira, pela metade e aos pedaços. Segundo João Machado — o artista nasceu no Rio de Janeiro, é rebento de Juarez Machado e mora em Florianópolis — a técnica que compõe a exposição é “única”. Uma colagem mais refinada em que imagens são desenvolvidas. E mais difícil, pois a palheta de cores é limitada: não há variedade de cores e tons em mapas. Mas isso não impediu que o artista utilizasse outros elementos para deixar os detalhes mais significativos. É nos cabelos que se mostra “o que está na cabeça”. O marrom-terra dos cabelos do garoto nadando (ou em queda livre?), as madeixas negras lustradas com estrelas e galáxias, os olhos que refletiam a correria da cidade, as crateras quase imperceptíveis nos olhos na mulher com tiras coloridas de cabelo. E para quem só adentrou na primeira parte do anexo um do Museu de Arte de Joinville, localizado na Cidadela Cultural Antartica, e ficou perdido entre os próprios pensamentos e olhares penetrantes das figuras dos quadros não moldurados, nem imagina a vida “intestinal” que ainda estava por vir. No segundo espaço do galpão havia a exposição não identificada “Na barriga da baleia”: instalação montada com ossos do mamífero. Nas esculturas tinha intervenção de acrílico e metal. O nome que não estava escrito em nenhum lugar no ambiente ficou nas entrelinhas para aqueles que se deixaram seduzir pelo canto das baleias, som que ecoava no ambiente como no fundo dos mares. Os ossos foram comprados de um antigo morador da “praia da saudade”, em Governador Celso Ramos (SC). O velho mergulhava no mar, trazia os ossos e montava uma espécie de "jardim fossilizado" nos fundos da casa. Mesmo que as telas e os ossos tenham sua própria voz ao interpelar todos aqueles que se aventuram em construir seus próprios “mapas” ao desvendar a exposição, elas ficam soltas no mundo cognitivo, sem títulos ou identificação. "Pensei que o museu iria se ocupar disso, não foi o caso. Preferi deixar em branco do que fazer às pressas", justifica João. Na exposição dos ossos, as instalações têm títulos de músicas de blues e chorinho. Essas também não são nomeadas. "Um trabalho sem um título, em certos casos, é como uma comida que não exala um cheiro. Fica faltando um certo sentido. Senti isso particularmente em relação aos ossos de baleia", explica. Chapéu a la gângster e sotaque de algum lugar entre Florianópolis e Rio de Janeiro. O artista que reflete as cores nos quadros está vestido dos pés a cabeça de preto em uma tarde quente do outono joinvilense. Enquanto entrava na galeria e cumprimentava o estagiário de plantão, uma bala passeava entre os cantos da boca e tilintava nos dentes. A visita inesperada de João Machado à própria exposição era apenas para trocar as lâmpadas dos refletores. E como não se sabe onde vai chegar e quem vai encontrar nas andanças da vida (para seres mortais ou cabalísticos é acaso e destino, para repórteres se resume a sorte), encontro o artista. Sem nem ter visto toda a exposição para fazer um questionamento coerente, pergunto qual a obra que ele mais gosta. João aponta para o quadro da esquerda, ao fundo do galpão. Um homem de rosto azul-céu melancólico, que apóia a face em uma das mãos. O porquê é técnico: as sombras formadas pelos diversos tons de azul dão luz ao rosto, o casaco de amarelo escuro que lembra pelica. Mesmo com as cores limitadas ele atingiu um equilíbrio. Eu não descarto a verossimilhança. Os traços do rosto homem lembram os de João. Mas a semelhança pode ser de outra ordem: a do artista que cria, modela, recorta de dentro para fora enquanto passeia os olhos pelo mundo. A exposição “Mapas-Deslocamento” é uma mostra do que vai ser exposto em Los Angeles. A galeria de arte Noho Modern comprou todos os quadros. “Não é comum uma galeria fazer isso, mas eles têm uma cabeça diferente, são ambiciosos e estão montando o seu acervo”, explica. A exposição inaugura em janeiro de 2009. Enquanto isso, a mostra recebe visitantes até o dia 29 de junho, na Cidadela Cultural Antartica. |
| O jardim secreto de João Machado
Vernissage movimenta a Bahiarte, em noite A Bahiarte voltou aos bons tempos dos grandes vernissages. O da última sexta, por exemplo, foi o máximo!!! Um encontro de apreciadores da arte que foram conferir as telas e esculturas de João Machado, que apresentou em sua mostra “Mapas e Deslocamentos” uma técnica inédita: usa pedaços de mapas para compor figuras e cenas do cotidiano, que vistas a distância parecem pinturas normais, mas, quando observadas de perto, revelam as cores e formas produzidas a partir de retalhos de mapas geográficos cuidadosamente recortados com bisturi médico. Filho do consagrado pintor Juarez Machado, João já tem uma considerável experiência artística. Estudou Cinema em Los Angeles e dirigiu cinco filmes, entre eles dois longas premiados. Suas esculturas também chamaram a atenção, feitas de costela de baleias, assunto que domina como poucos. Foi uma noite bastante prestigiada, que deixou a anfitriã Ana Barreto super feliz; os convidados, encantados com a simpatia dos artistas; e estes, ainda mais entusiasmados. A mostra, imperdível, fica aberta ao público até o dia 5 de setembro e recebe a visita de estudantes e amantes da arte da cidade. Foi dez com louvor! |
| A inquietação do ser
João Machado apresenta seus Mapas/deslocamentos no Museu de Arte de Joinville O olhar apurado que reposiciona um osso e o transforma numa imagem repleta de significados. Centenas de pedacinhos de mapas que compõem figuras em telas multicoloridas. Assim é o trabalho do artista plástico João Machado que apresenta, a partir de hoje, a exposição Mapas/deslocamentos no Museu de Arte de Joinville. Filho do múltiplo Juarez Machado, João não poderia ser diferente. Cresceu íntimo da arte, visitando os museus com os mais ricos acervos do mundo, dividindo seu dia com artistas de diferentes culturas e tendências. A soma deste movimento constante está traduzida em seu trabalho. A exposição Mapas/deslocamentos está estruturada em dois eixos temáticos. O primeiro, o deslocamento dos ossos. Assim, simples, quando se sofre um acidente, por exemplo. Ou o deslocamento de um osso de baleia que de alguma forma percorre um caminho e que, por uma alquimia do mar, se conserva até surgir grandioso na areia de alguma uma praia. Em outra vertente, João explora o deslocamento geográfico, no eterno exercício humano de se descobrir, de se perder e de achar, de ir e vir. - Estas duas vertentes resultam numa terceira, que é a sensação do deslocamento, quando a gente se sente um peixe fora dágua, às vezes, um estrangeiro na nossa própria casa - observa o também cineasta, que hoje divide suas dias entre Los Angeles e Joinville. Os ossos que João apresenta em seu trabalho são todos de baleia e, segundo avaliação de biólogos, devem ter mais de 100 anos. Para recolher as peças numa das belas praias de Governador Celso Ramos, ele contou com a ajuda do Barão (Silvino Goulart), artista plástico que há 25 anos dá vida aos ossos de peixe que encontra em forma de esculturas. - Eu gosto muito do Barão, inclusive foi ele que me ajudou a encontrar os ossos de baleia - comenta João. Nos quadros em grandes dimensões, João cria figuras a partir da junção de fragmentos de mapas, indicando a inquietação do ser humano, a busca por novos caminhos ou até mesmo a esperança em voltar a reencontrar alguma coisa, algum sentimento que foi perdido. Sempre no meio do caminho, da transição, da busca. Depois de Joinville, a exposição segue para Los Angeles, e João negocia uma escala das obras numa galeria de arte da Europa. Diario Catarinense JACQUELINE IENSEN | Joinville |
| THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB
Champagne wishes and caviar nightmares! REVIEW by Jason Daniel Baker Tim (Donovan), his fiance May (Rinde), Bruce (Ripley) and his wife Connie (Meyer) are four extremely wealthy young arts scene patrons who party it up at Tim's lush tropical family estate in Brazil. They pay the price for it and I don't just mean the laboured regurgitation one is sometimes plagued within after a binge. Beneath the glamorous surface of their lives they are miserable, hate themselves and are fully as revolted by their own garishness as audiences are. One of them is having a more difficult time with the angst than usual. Chances are you are like me and have never met any rich people. Thus you imagine them to be a certain way similar to the way I do. The truly affluent are becoming a more exclusive club by the day and are thus ripe for lampooning in a way they have not been. This is an imagining of what life would be like for such people if you took away their servants for an extended period of time. Gluttony made simple by use of a funnel, cocaine snorting races and weird sex games are staged here surrealistically. This white exploitation film production is what I thought Final Stab by David DeCoteau would be like. Take a bunch of rich white young people and watch them deal with frivolous concerns, revel in their own extravagance committing the seven deadly sins and then go insane. The people behind this production love the genre of horror but not to the point where they simply wanted to recreate elements of past favourites. They knew what they were doing enough to add their own take maximising the appeal of the narrative and expanding upon what they had seen before. If really affluent people are truly insane then who is more insane? Those that earn the money or that those that spend it? The socialites and playboys have the aspect of boredom to alleviate but the engines of economic growth that bankroll them have the burden of a thousand distasteful, dehumanising decisions in guarding their bottom line. Presumably they also have the burden of dealing with each other sometimes. Immaculately photographed and not just for a low-budget indie production like this is. Some frames are immobile and nicely set off the tracking shots in an agreeable and symmetrical balance. One seldom appreciates the beauty of handheld shots until one sees those taken by someone who knows how to hold a camera. The bridging seems smooth and fluid though if you were to map out how they did it you might not think it would be. There is a toying with the audience done here that is not jerking around. The performances give us some insight in to whom these characters are in their most deeply personal moments. Thus the amateur cast has its moments but the camerawork is the real star. The dinner scene with immaculate close-ups of teeth stained blood red is immaculately grotesque. Some of the most nauseating scenes in cinema history come after about an hour in. I'm not even going to describe them because then I might have to think about them. By then this film has gone too far. Don't watch it before dinner and definitely not during. The truly criminal thing is that this title is now being marketed in dollar stores alongside an unwatchable indie called The Final Homecoming. You get two for the price of one and like in so many two for one deals you are really getting one for one. Notes: Shot in 2001. Won Best Picture at the Seattle Underground Film Festival. Won the award for Best Cinematography at the Tribeca Indivision Film Festival. Based upon letters written by mental patient Jonathan Hacke. |
 Two Old Guys and a Hooker That’s how the co-writer of Viagara Falls describes his new play. And coming from Hollywood, he should know a little something about old guys and hookers. Friday, August 31, 2007 at 12:10 PM (Read more...) |
   Six pages "THE AMPUTEES" review nov/dec 2004 - Vizoo Magazine |
 "THE ART OF CANNIBALISM" THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB Brazilian Joao Machado's indie debut feature, and winner of the Seattle Underground Film Festival, has been doing the rounds since 2002 and gathering all manner of outrage - which promptly made our ears perk up. The Champagne Club locks a quartet of LA's young art-scene nouveau rich in a remote tropical estate and watches 'em fester with their snobby discomfort over the "pendulum between art and commerce"(they owe their wealth and privilege to exploitation rather than creation). A weekend of excesses eventually tips the see-saw from boredom, narcissism, alienation and despair to self-degradation, self-mutilation, madness, coprophilia, cannibalism, and beyond - all in the name of art. So far, so good; nothing like watching a bunch of yuppies kill and eat each other! The Champagne Club is based on letters by Jonothan Hacke, an artist and mental patient at a psychiatric institution, where he wrote about a shocking and profoundly innovative journey into the heart of madness. When all is said, done, and eaten - this is gross shit but Machado's chronicles ground-zero emotional auto-cannibalism with exquisite clarity. Direction, photography, art direction, music, and performances are perfectly attuned to this upscale production's nihilistic descent into a messily scripted, but effective, self made hell. Machado's artistic credentials allow him to plunder from a stellar pantheon of art (charnel) house horrors: Luis Bunuel's THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, Marco Ferreri's LA GRANDE BOUFFE, Pasolini's SALO and Peter Greenway's films along with echoes of Kubrick's THE SHINING, Argento's SUSPIRIA, the anarchic "lost" Brazilian masterpiece MACUNAIMA. I'd keep an eye out for future Machado mayhem. review by Steven Bissette march/april 2004 - Rue Morgue Magazine |
 THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB Movies are always better when they have something interesting and insightful to say. They are even more resonant when their message completely obliterates all expectations and fuses with the medium so seamlessly that it turns into a unique creature by its own right. That is the kind of film that viewers need to see; no, not see, experience. The Champagne Club is a luscious vision that pushes the envelope as far as it will go, but it does so with so much skill, that the heart of the movie is left intact. The film is set in the posh art scene of Los Angeles in what appears to be the peak of the 1980's. We meet Tim, his girlfriend May, and their two friends Bruce and Connie. The four friends go to a large mansion to spend a few weeks of vacation and to push the limits of their decadence. It's there we witness their harrowing downward spiral into the darkest recesses of the mind. This is where a lesser movie would stray. This is where Tim would begin acting erratic and for some contrived reason, go insane and murder his friends. What we get instead is so frightening, and so beautifully disturbing, that we don't want to miss any detail. I will not reveal any more of the plot, because really it becomes secondary to the culmination of the film. Each character is very delicately crafted. It is amazing to see how they develop and transform as the movie progresses. Their gluttony and decadence harkens to the ideal of the 80's blind and disgusting consumerism, but it is far more universal then that. It offers relentless social commentary on the elite, on the consumerist society, and on the people that maintain it by turning everything into a commodity(even art). The skill of both the cinematographer and the director is superb. The movie is filled with beautifully composed shots, so succulently arranged that they become palpable. The four actors deliver some of the bravest performances I have ever seen. They all embody their characters so well, they become them so convincingly, that to think back and consider the things they had to do and the places they had to go, mentally, one cannot help but admire them. If you think David Lynch and Peter Greenway make weird movies, you've seen nothing yet. Visually mesmerizing, intelectually evocative, gorgeously grotesque, The Champagne Club is one of the best films I've seen. Review by Antonio Del Toro June 2004 - Hacker's Source Magazine |
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THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB
Brazilian-born director Joao Machado contributes what will probably be the most controversial film of the BSIFF. The Champagne Club is based on actual letters written by a mental patient, detailing the descent into madness experienced by four Los Angeles art-scene insiders who retreat to a secluded villa for some decadent R&R. Tim (Brian Donovan) is an artist-turned-art dealer who is tortured by the career choice he's made. His girlfriend May (Sara Rinde) is supportive but unable to reciprocate his sexual advances. Bruce (Robert Ripley) glories in his role as a businessman and tries to make Tim see things his way, while his significant other Connie (Jaqueline Meyer) gets her kicks by pretending to be a certain marine-life animal. The partying begins to take on sinister tones as May discovers her more libertine side and Tim begins to dress himself like a bird (with palm fronds for wings and a funnel for a beak). Bruce, meanwhile, finds some really disgusting uses for food, leading the quartet into gruesome territory. The Champagne Club seems to take place in the early '80s (no cellphones or computers here), and would come off as incoherent if not for prior knowledge of the source material. If Whit Stillman (Ripley looks like a cross between Stillman regular Chris Eigeman and Sam Raimi fave Bruce Campbell) tried to emulate Pier Paolo Pasolini's gross-out flick Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Spoiler: There's a shit-eating scene), the result would turn out to be something like The Champagne Club. A strong stomach is required, but Machado shows promise as a visionary filmmaker. Matt Kelemen - Las Vegas CityLife - sept 2003 |
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DIRETOR
Recém formado pela Arts Center Cinema e Design, em Los Angeles, na Califórnia, o jovem João Manoel de Joinville Carvalho Machado veio ao Brasil para dirigir seu primeiro longa metragem, "Champagne Club", com atores e técnicos norte-americanos. Já em fase de finalização em estúdios brasileiros, a fita está recebendo trilha sonora. João de Joinville, o nome não nega, segue a trilha do famoso pai, o artista plástico joinvilense Juarez Machado. RAUL SARTORI - JORNAL A NOTICIA - abril 2002 |
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PREMIER
O cineasta Joao Machado produziu uma pelicula impar, repleta de excessos, decadencia e insanidade. Estrelado por por Juarez Machado que vive um fantasma, “The Champagne Club” ainda nao foi apresentado no Brasil. O jovem diretor de apenas 27 anos, ja prepara outro filme. “A Ilha”, onde um casal vive em um apartamento vazio de frente para o mar. Leo Coelho - O Estado - fevereiro 2005 |
Controversial Film, 'The Champagne Club', to Open eKsperim[E]nto Filmfest 2004 Manila, Philippines (3/05/04) Proving to be consistent of its reputation, the eKsperim[E]nto Film & Video Festival will open this year with the controversial full-length film by Joao Machado subtlely titled 'The Champagne Club '.  |
| LAUSANNE UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB USA - 2002 - 35mm - couleur - 85 min. Version originale Quatre aristocrates de la scène artistique de Los Angeles se retirent dans une belle villa exotique pour se reposer, mais leurs vacances décadentes prennent un tournant dévastateur quand ils décident de se lâcher à fond sur la drogue, la bouffe et le sexe jusqu’au dernier niveau et tout ceci par amour de l’art. Ce film est admirablement servi par une très belle photographie, des plans soignés et une belle mise en scène. Le film prend son temps pour s’enfoncer dans les sombres perversités que les personnages développent au fur et à mesure de l’histoire. On notera une belle distribution et l’inventivité surréaliste de certaines séquences qui ne sont pas dépourvues d’humour et de poésie. On peut envisager ce film comme un remix contemporain et SM soft de la Grande Bouffe. |
 SWINGERS & SALESMEN Estetyka Dir: Joao Machado / Nar / 16mm / 1999 / USA / 11:00 / Canadian Premiere Estetyka is a noir travelogue on the way to a magic (un)reality. Sal, an introverted limo driver, hooks up with Shirley, who needs to get across the country to bail out her delinquent kid. In need of cash, and necessity being the mother of invention, Shirley turns Sal's limo into a travelling truck stop bordello, and the story shifts yet again. Machado delves deep into madness and desire in the supersaturated landscape of the wild west. Like one of the countercultural anthologies put out by Feral House or Re/Search press, the four short films in MediaHead's unbeatable film series traffic in conspiracy, paranoia, fringe culture, meta-filmic fugues and all around freaky mayhem. It's rare to see a collection of short films that work so well together, and without one clunker to spoil the batch. A hard-boiled noir send-up with the aesthetics and tawdry subject matter of a grindhouse exploitation film, Joao Machado's "Estetyka" is the story of a man, a woman and a limousine, narrated by a cabby with a Charles Bukowski-meets-Homer Simpson turn of phrase. The crusty cab driver recounts his life-altering run-in with a road-worn hooker named Shirley Valentine who convinces the hack to transport her from California to New York to bail her son out of prison, earning money along the way by turning tricks in the limo's backseat. But the cabby soon discovers, after Shirley has a disastrous run-in with a kinky cowboy in a gas station bathroom, that madness "is constructed much like a pyramid." If Abel Ferrara and Ed Wood had a love child, "Estetyka" would be its name. Felicia Feaster/creative loafing - Atlanta/march 2000 |
B-MOVIE THEATER FILM FEST NOMINEE 2002 THE CHAMPAGNE CLUB BEST B-MOVIE DIRECTOR - Joao Machado BEST B-MOVIE ACTRESS - Sara Rinde BEST B-MOVIE SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Jacqueline Meyer BEST B-MOVIE PHOTOGRAPHY BEST B-MOVIE SET DESIGN BEST B-MOVIE MAKE-UP |
Titel: The Champagne Club Originaltitel: The Champagne Club År: 2002 Från: U.S.A. / Brasilien Längd: 90 min Regi: Joao Machado Sett på: Bio Kategori: Bisarrt Skådespelare: Brian Donovan, Sara Rinde, Robert Ripley, Jaqueline Meyer m.fl. Läsarnas Betyg: Har du sett Champagne Club, The? Ge ditt betyg! Skriv egen recension!! Fyra aristrokater beger sig till en 52-rums villa för semester. De är två par och kunde vid en första anblick vara normala bortskämda rikemanspersoner. Men vid en djupare granskning inser man snart att något är fel på dessa unga människor, så oerhört fel. De fyller poolen med tomma champagneflaskor, drar kokainlinor på flera meter längs golvet, ägnar sig åt allt mer bisarra sexlekar och glider längre och längre in i galenskapen. Vad har hänt med hushållerskan? Vad är det de äter egentligen? Hur mycket av det som händer är på riktigt och vad är bara resultatet av deras sjuka hjärnor? Endast tiden kommer att visa vad de egentligen hänger sig åt och hur det skall sluta. Denna film bygger tydligen på brev skrivna av Jonathan Hacke, som var konstnär och mentalpatient. Skrev han om dyligt kan jag förstå om killen var inspärrad. Från vissa helt bisarra saker glider filmen över till sjukt äckliga scener och går verkligen på djupet i galenskapen. Ibland kan man skratta åt början av en scen, för att avbrytas helt abrupt av att man blir äcklad av det man ser. För att nämna lite av det man får se eller får beskrivit för sig äts det bajs, kannibalism, sex med spannmål, samt en hel del annat som kanske vanligen inte finns med i en film… För mig gränsar filmen mellan betyg 1 och 2, men till slut får den ändå 1, får det är inte direkt mycket i filmen som egentligen var något att ha. Vill man verkligen se någonting totalt annorlunda och bisarrt är detta en given succé, men annars kan man gott undvika den. |