The Brooklyn Rail

Sandra Cinto has given a gift to New Yorkers. As winter weather stakes its claim on our collective mood, Cinto has managed to capture the warmth of her São Paulo, Brazil, studio in an aptly titled solo show May I Know How to be the Sun on Cloudy Days at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. In new acrylic paintings, Cinto depicts luminous skies, landscapes, and oceans of blue and gold filled with fine, yet densely populated lines that reveal clouds, spiderwebs, mountains, and waves. Among these organic forms, Cinto has added geometric patterns that recall some found in nature, such as the intricate structure of snowflakes, and others that more closely resemble manmade structures, introducing a subtle contradiction between the natural and the built environments. Tensions and contractions are common in Cinto’s practice, reflecting the complexities of the human experience. With subtle shifts of perspective, she positions the viewer above, below, and within these new works, creating an all-encompassing environment in which to escape the world outside the gallery. Far from the tempestuous precipitation that has been bearing down on the Northeast of late, Cinto’s atmospheres seem to billow gracefully across each composition, a reminder of how beautiful the forces of the universe can be.

At the heart of the show is a monumental work painted directly onto the gallery wall. Spanning over forty feet, the field of gold draws you in, its warmth captivating instantly. Webs of wispy white lines flow like clouds or silent snowdrifts across the expansive surface of barely visible black mountain peaks. Finely painted, the delicate, feathery details resemble line drawings. Placing the viewer in the sky floating slightly above the mountains, Cinto offers an image of the natural world that is awe-inspiring in its beauty and both static and impermanent, giving equal attention to the mountains as she does the visible wind. In previous works, Cinto included symbols such as swings, bridges, and constellations, tapping into the viewer’s imagination with suggestion of journeys to otherworldly spaces. For this new show, she homes in on the fundamental forces of this world from gravity to the wind.

In front of this monumental piece, Cinto has created an elegant, minimalist wood and bronze bench for visitors to rest and reflect on her work. The exhibition’s title immediately came to mind as I sat in front of the painted wall, enveloped in the deep gold hue the artist has used. Like a mantra, the musing feels meditative, almost sacred, as if Cinto is inviting viewers to leave the stress of life at the door and take a moment to find their own inner sunshine. I soon realized this painting shares the exhibition’s name.

On the walls adjacent to May I Know How to be the Sun on Cloudy Days (2024) are two pieces of the same subject, Landscape in Gold I and Landscape in Gold II (both 2023). Smaller in scale (though both impressive at over eight feet wide) and painted on canvases instead of the wall, the two mountainous landscapes offer additional views of Cinto’s luminous, meditative world. Paired with the wall painting, these works create a kind of warm embrace, even though there is no actual sun visible in any of them. Instead, Cinto portrays the sun’s effects with its rays blanketing the entire room in a rich, glowing light that envelops the viewer as much as it does the mountains. Hovering above the scene, perhaps the viewers cannot see the sun because these rays are emanating from behind them—maybe from the artist herself. The final work in this gilded room is Night with Stars (2023), a deep blue and black sky dotted with gold stars. Changing the perspective, the viewer now appears to be lying below the sky as if looking up at this dreamy scene, pondering the infinite expanse of the cosmos.

Upstairs in the gallery are works from Cinto’s “Open Sea” series (2023). Featuring airy blue expanses with waves as dense, yet delicate, as the cloudy golden landscapes, the paintings seem to depict both the ocean and the sky, as if the horizon has melted away. Though full of motion with the intricate waves, the scenes are serene and meditative. Hints of deep blue break through the surface, a reminder of the unknown depths of the ocean. Much like Cinto’s portrayal of the night sky, these ocean paintings inspire a closer look at the mysteries of the world around us. Joining these are pieces from the “Day Flight” series (2023)—equally luminous fields of blue, but with the brightness of a sunny day. As the title suggests, the artist has transported the viewer high above the earth to offer a closer look at the clouds. Ribbon-like patterns streak across the skies, perhaps a nod to the journey one might take on a flight.

Throughout the show, Cinto explores the forces of the universe and the visible evidence they leave behind. While at times this might take the form of storms and frigid temperatures, nature’s capacity for beauty is boundless if only we take a moment to look around us.