x i c o c h a v e s
Minas Gerais, 1948
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
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The artist was arrested by the Presidency's special forces, while an unpublished dossier was put together about the intervention which, to its credit, reclaimed the image of justice as the one who sees, since its archetypal symbolism as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.
Photography | Edition: 16 + 4 PA | 111 x 82 cm
