A produção visual de Lygia Pape na Piraquê no domínio dos atravessamentos entre Arte e Design

Abstract

In 2009, the Piraquê Food Products Industry began a more effective process of changing the visual identity of the layouts of its biscuit packaging, which had been developed by Lygia Carvalho Pape (1927-2004). The initiative was not well received by a portion of the public. It was believed that the project would represent the end of the propagation of the visual language applied by the artist to the packaging; however, years later, the company was acquired by M. Dias Branco, which developed a collection, transforming the layouts into clothing and accessories to promote the brand on social media, based on the appropriation of the packaging patterns by artists in their costumes. Despite all the packaging having undergone successive changes, the resurgence of the work, through individual or institutional initiatives, indicates that the creation acquired a notable condition of “permanence”, configuring the challenge of understanding this state as a research problem. Assuming as a hypothesis that the work transcends its condition as a work of visual programming, positioning itself on the threshold between art and design in the construction of a poetics that perpetuates itself in the imagination of a segment of the population, this thesis approaches Lygia Pape's visual production at Piraquê, seeking to understand the characteristics that legitimize its power. Furthermore, given that the artist's work in the field of design does not usually receive much attention, the study sought to present Lygia Pape as a graphic designer, offering, both to the history of design and to Brazilian graphic memory, information that can serve as valuable references in the formation of the creative repertoire of future generations of designers. Based on respected authors, a series of conceptual aspects that cross the theme were considered, followed by an approach to the nature of design and its interrelations with art, as well as details linked to the process of updating the visual identity of the company's packaging. It highlighted how Pape possibly took her first steps in the field of design, showing a brief sample of her achievements in the sector. An analysis of the artist's production at Piraquê revealed important characteristics regarding the corporation's brand, as well as the graphic resources she used to design the layouts of the corporation's packaging. Lygia Pape had the habit of working simultaneously on several activities within a mechanism that finds a parallel in the interdisciplinary nature of design. This condition may have enhanced the artist's visual programming work at the company, an example of the intersections that exist between art and design, resulting in an extraordinary collection of elements, endowed with an unmistakable identity, which bears the mark of her personal aesthetic, evident in the long-lasting condition of the work, more than 50 years after its conception. The history of the production reinforces that the relationship that is built between a brand and its audience is a precious value that cannot be given up, and should be explored judiciously in order to achieve the entity's institutional objectives. Pape viewed art and life as inseparable elements. The artist's visual production at Piraquê remains a remarkable testament to the poetics of this woman, one of the most important Brazilian artists.