m a t e u v e l a s c o
New York, 1980
m a t e u v e l a s c o
New York, 1980
under construction
Tiros, MG - 1948
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Xico Chaves creates his pictorial work through thematic and conceptual series. Stemming from many expeditions to the Iron Belt, in Minas Gerais and other regions in Brazil, all his work in painting, even the oldest ones such as Luzz series (1970), to the more recent ones, and also the Tramas XL series (2018), is made with minerals, natural pigments and acrylic resin, this being his main reference in contemporary visual arts. The conception of poetic and spatial objects is present in his research from the very beginning, so the different pictorial series are interspersed. His subject matters encompass three great pillars: life, art and politics.
His interest in constant experimentation of discourses and medias for artistic expression made Xico internationally renowned as a multiple artist, having had in his path popular and experimental music in addition to paintings and objects, performances, process-poems, video art, photographs and records in the fields of poetry, popular and experimental music.
works
"TETO SOLAR" SERIES
Paintings with minerals and acrylic resin on canvas made in the mining regions of the iron quadrangle in the state of Minas Gerais and completed in the atelier. These works dialogue with the geography of their surroundings and the constructive material of their ancestral origin. The constructions, energized with raw minerals, interact with nature, its surrounding elements in interactive movement with water, sunlight, vegetation, wind and body performance. The painting brings together gestures, observation, reflection and timelessness by incorporating the trajectory of the artist's creative process, his imagination, the material reality and its diverse origins. The ground, its accidents and its diverse composition, under the effects of water, earth, and solar radiation determine the time of creation in the metamorphosis of the image and its semantic composition.
"NOVA MATÉRIA" SERIES
From space to gravity, Nova Matéria searches for the solid in its infinite planetary formations, agglomerations, geological compositions, geographies, chromatisms, friability, malleability and poetic sense, on various supports. Travels and researches in Minas, mining companies and landscapes result in aerophotogrammetric representations of reliefs, melts, erosions, imaginary physical transmutations somewhere in the universe, as if the planet or celestial body were always seen from above, now consolidated, now in the process of formation.
VISUAL POEM
Xico Chaves' poetry came over the years, gradually, joining all activities of life, bureaucratic work, politics, leisure, friendship, affections, so that today we can no longer distinguish in his activities what is or is not art [poetry]; your every gesture is an artistic action. Perhaps that was the challenge he set himself, to make life a great form of artistic operation.
INTERIM OBJECTS
In the passage between all the series of paintings, they often appear as if it were the fulfillment of the creative process, sometimes as experiences transmuted into works, sometimes as propositions of various objects, called by the artist as Intercalary Objects (in series or isolated). These objects establish references with the poetic, visual and literary production simultaneously with the creation process as a whole.
"OLHO NA JUSTIÇA"
Intervention, installation and performance, were all comprised in Alfredo Ceschiatti's sculpture Justice, at Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Plaza), at DF (Federal District). On the occasion of president Fernando Collor's impeachment, Xico Chaves placed two crossed eyes over the blindfold that represents impartiality. The action, secretively planned for three months, coincidentally happened in the very same day the streets of the main capitals of the country were taken by “painted-faces” protesters for the first time. The artist was arrested by the Presidency's special forces, while an unpublished dossier was put together about the intervention which, to its credit, reclaimed the image of justice as the one who sees, since its archetypal symbolism as blind and impartial had been around. There was a streak of synchronicity as media association. It may be considered a group intervention for interacting with the collective unconscious in which it was circumscribed. From this intervention on, the sculpture was displayed in almost all articles about justice and popular demands, becoming a reference for public demonstrations and events.
Olho na justiça | 1992
Print on paper Hahnemühle PhotoRag 308
100% cotton
Edition: 16 + 4 AP
111 x 82 cm
