Arnaldo Angeli Filho (São Paulo SP 1956)
Cartoonist and political cartoonist.
At the age of 14, Angeli published his first drawing in the magazine Senhor. Self-taught, he learned to draw by copying the work of Millôr Fernandes (1923), Jaguar (1932) and Ziraldo (1932). His work is influenced by the underground comics of the American Robert Crumb (1943). In the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, he published political cartoons from 1973 and, from 1983, daily comic strips in which he created characters portraying urban types, notably Rê Bordosa, Bob Cuspe and the aging hippies Wood & Stock. In the 1980s, he published the magazine Chiclete com Banana through the publisher Circo, which introduced a new cast of his characters, such as Walter Ego, Rigapov, Rhalah Rikota, Bibelô, Meiaoito e Nanico, Ritchi Pareide, Aderbal and Os Skrotinhos. With Laerte (1951) and Glauco (1957-2010), he created the series Los Três Amigos, also published in Chiclete com Banana. In 1983, he illustrated the historian Lilia Moritz Schwarcz's book República Vou Ver!. In 1995, he published FHC: Biografia Não Autorizada [FHC: Unauthorized Biography] through Editora Ensaio, a collection of cartoons produced during the administration of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1931). For television, Angeli wrote sketches and scripts, working with the teams of the programs TV Colosso and Sai de Baixo, both on Rede Globo. Based on his work, director Otto Guerra released the animated feature Wood & Stock - Sexo, Orégano e Rock'n Roll in 2006. In 2008, he was one of the honorees at the 1st Rio de Janeiro International Humor Festival, which presented Angeli/Genial, a retrospective of the cartoonist's work. Also that year, the animated short Dossiê Rê Bordosa, directed by César Cabral and based on the character created by Angeli, was released. His drawings are included in the Enciclopedia del Humor Latino Americano, from Colombia, in the Antologia de Humor Brasileiro and in the Cartoon and Caricature Museum in Basel, Switzerland. He currently draws for Folha de S. Paulo and for his website on the Universo On-line portal, notably the strips Let's Talk About Sex and Luke e Tantra and, in the "web novela" A Morta Viva [The Living Dead Woman], Rê Bordosa.
Critical Commentary
Angeli has drawn since childhood. As a teenager, he discovered the periodical O Pasquim and became interested in the cartoons of Millôr Fernandes, Jaguar and Ziraldo. He admits that he began by copying the work of these cartoonists. Around the same time, he discovered comics artists such as Robert Crumb, Wolinski (1934) and Jean Marc Reiser (1941-1983), who influenced him deeply. At 14, he published his first drawing in the magazine Senhor. In 1973, he launched the political cartoon slot in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, where he remained until 1982. During that period, he also contributed to the periodicals Movimento, Versus and O Pasquim. In 1975, he won second place at the 2nd Salão Internacional de Humor de Piracicaba.
In 1983, he gave up political cartoons to devote himself to comics. At Folha de S. Paulo, he left the politics section and moved to Ilustrada, the culture section, where he published strips featuring his characters alongside foreign comics artists. Shortly afterwards, with the editor Toninho Mendes, he founded Editora Circo, devoted to adult comics, especially by Brazilian authors. In 1984, Circo published the book Chiclete com Banana, collecting Angeli's strips with some of the urban types created for the newspaper. The book's success led the publisher to create a bimonthly magazine of the same name, whose first issue hit the newsstands in 1985.
Angeli creates comic strips and stories narrating typically São Paulo situations, from bohemian life to everyday life. Characters such as Tudoblue e Moçamba, Mara Tara, Wood & Stock, Rê Bordosa, Bob Cuspe, Meia-Oito e Nanico, Bibelô and Os Skrotinhos emerged from this. His work moved away from the political tone of his cartoons and returned to the underground influences of the 1960s and 1970s, with a caustic approach to social satire. His line became grittier, bringing him closer to comics artists such as the Frenchman Vuillemin (1958).
In the 1990s, Angeli returned to political cartoons in Folha de S. Paulo. In 1995, Editora Ensaio collected some of his strips in the volume FHC: Biografia Não Autorizada. The cartoonist publishes daily strips in Folha de S. Paulo and in 15 other Brazilian newspapers, as well as in Lisbon's Diário de Notícias. His work gained color. Besides cartoons and strips, he publishes illustrations, less narrative than his earlier drawings. Some of the strips from this period are collected in the anthologies Wood & Stock, Sexo é uma Coisa Suja [Sex Is a Dirty Thing], Luke e Tantra and Os Skrotinhos, published by Editora Devir.
Solo Exhibitions
1999 - Belo Horizonte MG - Angeli: The Killer
2008 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Angeli/Genial, at Centro Cultural Correios
2012 - São Paulo SP - Ocupação Angeli, at Itaú Cultural
Group Exhibitions
1975 - Piracicaba SP - 2nd Piracicaba International Humor Salon, at Centro Nacional de Humor - award winner
1986 - Angoulême (France) - 13ème Festival International de la Bande Dessinée
1990 - Treviso (Italy) - Treviso Festival
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Image of Sound of Caetano Veloso, at Paço Imperial
2000 - Amadora (Portugal) - 11th Amadora International Comics Festival, at Fábrica da Cultura
2001 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Caricaturists, at Instituto Cine Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Line, Humor & Co., at Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado - Faap
2006 - São Paulo SP - The History of Football in Brazil Through Cartoons, at Sesc Ipiranga
2007 - Carquefou (France) - 8ème Rencontres Internationales du Dessin de Presse
Source: Itaú Cultural
