A matriz afro e os elementos formais
17.11 — 28.01.17
Antonio Dias

Gigante dormindo e cachorro latindo, 2002
Polychrome bronze
15 × 29 × 43 cm

Artists

Given the history and development of a country whose cultural wealth is multiple and diverse, the exhibition “A matriz afro e os elementos formais” is a research that aims to identify, in art made in Brazil, the presence of aesthetic and merely formal aspects inherited from cultures African cultures, relating the origin and scope of these elements regardless of the region, time or ancestry of the artists.

The exhibition features different supports such as drawings, paintings, wall reliefs, fabrics and sculptures, revealing connections established between the works, through geometric patterns, shapes and signs.

In the work “Tabom Concreto”by Rodrigo Garcia Dutra, for example, the appropriate geometric wefts and patterns of an African fabric — Kente —as a matrix for his charcoal fleets act more in the field of geometric abstraction, a kind of rescue that the artist associates with elements of concretism, as atavistic forms. In Martinho Patrício, the linen folds with white lace are geometrisms that resemble African masks, while at the same time they can be seen as female forms or even as the lace present in religious clothing. The reading of this work can still be associated with some neo-concrete concepts, since it suggests a break in rationality and leads us to the sensory. This investigation, however, seeks to find such aspects in the artistic production of different generations as far as it is possible to identify them, observing only forms and elements that can be associated with symbols and patterns.

In this sense, we can say that Rubem Valentim’s production in the early 1960s can be inserted in the concrete context with its geometric abstraction from elements associated with the rich symbology of the orixás. Triangles, circles, half moon and arrows compose a symmetrical plane with solid colors referring to the entities. However, such association with concretism is noted due to the context of the time and the formal character of his work, but we cannot affirm a concrete intention, as it is clear that the artist values ​​the rites and cults of entities and symbols more than a stylistic concern itself.

On the other hand, Emanoel Araújo makes a kind of syncretism of form, also in the field of abstraction, in which elements juxtaposed spontaneously create symmetries that, disassociated from artistic movements, can relate to the fabric — Arkila Kerka — observing the repetition of shapes and patterns.

Finally, we have the signs directly associated with Afro-descendant religions, in the work of Deoscóredes Maximiliano dos Santos, Mestre Didi, ascension structures made of fibers adorned with conch beads, seeds, beads and leather straps form sculptures representing the intrinsic strength of religious entities, which is also visible in Martinho Patrício’s “Rosários”, where their grouped gossips create abstract symbols that are indirectly related to the insignia of orixás.

These aspects, however, are a free association due to the similarity of forms, such as the trident in the work “Gigante dormindo e cachorro latindo”, by Antonio Dias, which in Umbanda represents the Exu.

Finally, among the various generations of artists, it is possible to observe the permanence and reach of the plasticity of a culture that, despite having been repressed for hundreds of years by the strong imposition of Catholicism, even to the point of being banned, today emerges from those who preserve and they renew the tradition.

Gustavo Nobrega
November, 2016

Antonio Dias

Gigante dormindo e cachorro latindo, 2002
Polychrome bronze
15 × 29 × 43 cm

Rubem Valentim

Pintura A, 1967
Acrylic on canvas
50 × 35 cm