Bené Fonéles (Bragança, PA, 1953)
Plastic artist, journalist, editor, writer, poet and Composer.
José Benedito Fonteles begins his career in 1971, exhibiting at the 3rd National Salon of Plastic Arts in Ceará. In Fortaleza, he works as a journalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, it annually integrates several collective, national and international exhibitions, linked to postal art and research on new means of expression. During this period, he participated in four editions of the São Paulo International Biennial (1973, 1975, 1977 and 1981). From 1974 onwards, he also carried out several individual exhibitions, in Brazil and abroad.
Between 1983 and 1986, he directs the Museum of Art and Popular Culture (MACP) of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). In the 1980s, he became involved in projects and movements aimed at ecological preservation, seeking to unite them with artistic creation. In 1991, he moved to Brasília, where he maintained his role as an ecological activist and organizer of artistic events. In 1997, he organized the assembly of the special room of the Bahian artist Rubem Valentim, at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (MAM/BA). Among the books he publishes, O Livro do Ser (1994) and O Artista da Luz (2001) stand out, about Rubem Valentim. His work as a composer is reunited on the CD Benditos, released in 2003, which groups three previous works, Bendito (1983), Silento (1989) and Aê (1991). In 2003, he received from the Presidency of the Republic the Commendation of Cultural Merit.
Critical Comment
The text of Bené Foné Fonteles for the catalog of his exhibition Palavras e Obras begins with the phrase: "I like this doubt of moving between what is art and what is artisania"1. It says a lot about the artist's plastic work, based mainly on the transformation of simple and often fragile materials, natural or poorly worked by man, such as stones, pieces of logs, ropes, rustic fabrics and wire. In addition to this type of support, Fonteles works with the appropriation of objects, always with the objective of transfiguting them from the evocation of their poetic potential, either intervening in these objects or associating them in installations. It should be noted that most of the materials chosen by the artist are linked to the Brazilian land, an option that comes from his political stance as an environmental activist. views to escape from conventional concepts and uses associated with the objects it uses. As the artist himself recognizes, this posture is inspired by more than one generation of artists working in the 20th century, who seek inspiration in the relationship between man, nature and the universe.
Nota
1 Fonteles, Bené. Words and Works (1998 to 2004). São Paulo: Pinacoteca do Estado, 2004.
Criticism
"For works in Xerox Bené, it uses mainly photojournalism, as its theme remains based on external visual information (as in the case of Strikes, Lula, Lennon and Yoko Ono series, etc.) At the same time, it keeps its craftsmanship in the cut of the images, in the composition and arrangement of the same, in their juxtaposition and overlap - that is: the appropriate photo manipulated through handicrafts and then subjected to machine that gives it a non-existent graphic dignity in the simple collage. And more: once this image is photocopied, with the distortions and effects that Bené already explores and knows how to achieve, he again returns to the artisanal, kneading the xerographically printed paper, or cutting the images in Xerox before reinserting them into an alternative composition, which in turn is submitted to Xerox as 'Matrix' for an image that he can consider as definitive. of a print run that can be repeated countless times.
The result, in some works, as in the Lula series Speaking with the finger raised is, without a doubt, the best, in the use of the xerox that we have seen among us."
Aracy Amaral
AMARAL, Aracy. Art and artistic environment: between feijoada and x-burguer: 1961 - 1981. Presentation Ana Maria de Moraes Belluzzo. São Paulo: Nobel, 1983. 423 p.
"Bené Fonéles has been carrying out a work, always having nature as a fulcrum and core. Few national artists follow the indigenous process of feeling, like Fonteles. between 'art' and life... The art of Bené is ecological and is all centered on signs of nature, that is, signifiers that change meanings as soon as they leave the forests and savannas -, where they really exist to the full... Indians, Bené makes art as a manifestation of joy, purity of living, beauty of moving. Having as atelier the Chapada dos Guimarães, in addition to using local material with the clear intention of showing homo urbanus the delights of natural living, Bené Indianizes, purifies us and creates an unusual work... Art without artificiality, whether with urban technology or with the technology of the jungle".
Alberto Beuttenmüller, 1986
BUTTEMÜLLER, Alberto. [critical text]. In: FONTELES, Bené. Before Art Than Afternoon: Bené Fonteles. Fortaleza: Museum of Art of the Federal University of Ceará, 1990. [p. 4].
Testimonies
"Just put the technology for the artist's use: a photocopier, a scissors, letterset, glue, pencil, ruler, ecoline, paper/color offset printing - Using it to reinvent the landscapes and facts destroyed by it, denounce the suspicious atmospheres. Art is an exercise of lucidity in the face of the reality of the oppressed man anywhere on the planet. multiple; that springs from each being in the art: alternative - asleep by the numbness of the routine; that from each spirit their ancestral desires are born... activism of ideas to propose and decipher contemporary riddles; thus assumes a true function within the historical process: not to see man within a window process, but to be with him inside the window and awaken him, then silence and noise, his conscience to break the Glass that separates life from art, and then, from this reaction, we lose the language of fear, return to the true sensitive function - biological - philosophical - policy of balance with the environment in which we were reproduced, within the nature-mind structure - normal evolution from which we were deceased.
Urban experimental art is a witness to tragic times; And using the means of expression of great technology - unrealistic advances in the face of hunger, I said 'to the general hunger' that still threatens us - it was necessary to solve, through science x art, the spiritual and material problem of human evolution. Sowing a new conscience in the minds of oppressed peoples, making that, with the very exercise of critical reflection of their condition, the instinct of liberation is born. rather art than late".
Bené Fonéles
Fonteles, Bené. Before Art Than Afternoon: Bené Foné Fonteles. Fortaleza: Art Museum of the Federal University of Ceará, 1990. [p. 14].
Cerves
Pinacoteca collection of the state of São Paulo/Brazil - São Paulo SP
National Art Foundation - FUNARTE - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Museum of Contemporary Art of Porto Alegre - MAC - Curitiba PR
Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo - MAC/USP - São Paulo SP
Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo - MAM/SP - São Paulo SP
Art Museum of the Federal University of Ceará - MAUC - Fortaleza CE
Minimuseu Firmeza - Fortaleza CE
National Museum of Fine Arts - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris - Paris (France)
Museum of the Federal University of Pará - UFPA Museum - Belém PA
Museum of Contemporary Art José Pancetti - MACC - Campinas SP
Museum of Art and Popular Culture - Cuiabá MT
Museum of Modern Art - Moma - New York (United States)
Individual exhibitions
1974 - Fortress CE - Individual, in the Gallery of the Raimundo Cela House of Culture
1974 - Fortaleza CE - First Individual, at the Gauguin Gallery
1975 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the ICBA Gallery
1976 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the ICBA Gallery
1977 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the ICBA Gallery
1978 - Fortaleza CE - Investigations, in the Interarte room
1979 - Fortaleza CE - Result, in the Interarte room
1979 - São Paulo SP - Bené Foné: Audiovisuals, at MAC/USP
1980 - Belém PA - Bené Fonéles: xerographies and collages, in the gallery Um
1980 - Belém PA - Experiments, at the Federal University of Pará
1980 - Belém PA - Experimental Engravings, at the Theodoro Braga Gallery
1980 - Curitiba PR - Bené Fonéles: Audiovisuals, at the Guido Viaro Museum
1980 - Fortaleza CE - Visual Exercises, at the Federal University of Ceará
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Bené Fonéles: Xerografias, at the gallery Brazilian engraving
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - in extermination, at Funarte. Gallery Rodrigo Mello Franco de Andrade
1980 - San Salvador (El Salvador) - Ejercicios Visuales, in the National Expositions Room
1980 - São Paulo SP - Bené Fonéles: Audiovisuais, Pinacoteca do Estado
1981 - Cuiabá MT - Individual, at the Laila Zahran Gallery
1981 - Porto Alegre RS - Yokos, in the space n.o.
1981 - São Paulo SP - Bené Fonéles: xerographies, collages and billboards, at the Suzanna Sassoun Gallery
1981 - São Paulo SP - The poster and the work, at Café Paris
1981 - São Paulo SP - Relations, in the photographic office of Pinacoteca do Estado
1982 - Cuiabá MT - Bené Fonéles: xerographies and collages, at the Cuiabá bus station
1982 - São Paulo SP - Terra, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1983 - São Paulo SP - The Nature of the Artist, at CCSP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Paço das Artes
1985 - Cuiabá MT - Magic, in Artegaleria
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at EAV/Parque Lage
1986 - São Paulo SP - Before Art Than Afternoon, at Galeria Unit Dois
1986 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Paço das Artes
1987 - Porto Alegre RS - Before Art Than Afternoon, at Cambona Centro de Artes
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Before Art Than Afternoon, at Montesanti Galleria
1988 - Brasília DF - Before Art Than Afternoon, at Galeria Espaço Capital
1988 - São Paulo SP - Before Art Than Afternoon, at Paulo Figueiredo Art Gallery
1990 - Fortaleza CE - Before Art Than Afternoon, at the Art Museum of the Federal University of Ceará
1990 - São Paulo SP - Before Art Than Afternoon, at MASP
2001 - Brasília DF - Bené Fonéles: Shrouds, self-portraits and works from 1996 to 2001, in the contemporary cultural space Venâncio
2001 - Brasília DF - Individual, in the reference Galeria de Art
2004 - São Paulo SP - Absence and presence in Gameleira do Assuruá, at Sesc Pompéia
2004 - São Paulo SP - Words and works, at Pinacoteca Station
Exhibition Collectives
1971 - Fortaleza CE - 1st University Exhibition of Art - Special Award
1971 - Fortaleza CE - 3rd National Salon of Plastic Arts of Ceará
1971 - Fortaleza CE - Salão de April
1972 - Fortaleza CE - 22nd Municipal Hall of April - Special Room
1972 - Fortaleza CE - 2nd University Expo of Art
1973 - São Paulo SP - 12th International Bienal de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1974 - São Paulo SP - 8th Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1974 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Nacional 74, at the Fundação Bienal
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th Summer Salon, at MAM/RJ
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1975 - São Paulo SP - 7th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, in the MAM/SP
1976 - Lansing (United States) - Modern Art in Brazil, at the Kresge Art Museum
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Art Now, at MAM/RJ
1977 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Mail Art Exposition
1977 - São Paulo SP - 14th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1977 - São Paulo SP - Visual Poetics, at MAC/USP
1979 - New York (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Works on Paper: 49 artists, at Nobé Gallery
1980 - João Pessoa PB - Xerografias, Nucleus of Contemporary Art
1980 - Lisbon (Portugal) - International Postal Art Exhibition, at Galeria Quadrum
1980 - Porto Alegre RS - Xerografias, at Espaço N.O.
1980 - São Paulo SP - 12th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1980 - São Paulo SP - Highlight of the Year, at MASP
1980 - São Paulo SP - Photography as a support, in the photo gallery
1980 - São Paulo SP - Few and rare
1980 - São Paulo SP - Xerografias, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1981 - Boston (United States) - Current Myths, at the Art Institute of Boston
1981 - Cuiabá MT - Role of Art on Paper, at Galeria Laila Zahran
1981 - Curitiba PR - 38th Salão Paranaense, at the Guaíra Theater - Special Room
1981 - Los Angeles (United States) - International Mail-Art Show, at the Otis Art Institute
1981 - Recife PE - 1st International Exhibition of Visual Poems in Outdoor, in the city's urban space
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th Salon National Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - From the modern to the contemporary: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at MAM/RJ
1981 - São Paulo SP - 16th International Bienal de São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1981 - São Paulo SP - Heliography Exhibition, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1981 - Vista (United States) - Erotica-Exotica, at New Vistas Gallery
1982 - Caxias do Sul RS - Artemicro, at the University of Caxias do Sul
1982 - Coimbra (Portugal) - Microarte, at the Circle of Visual Arts
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Brazil 60 Years of Modern Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at the José de Azeredo Perdigão Modern Art Center
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - from modern to contemporary: Gilberto Chateaubriand Foundation, at the Calouste Foundation Gulbenkian
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Microarte, at Cooperativa Diferença
1982 - London (England) - Brazil 60 Years of Modern Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection Gallery
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Articro, at MAM/RJ
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Universo do Futebol, at MAM/RJ
1982 - São Paulo SP - Artemicro, MIS/SP
1982 - São Paulo SP - Intercommunicable/Intercommunicabile, at MAC/USP
1983 - Dallas (United States) - Artemicro, at the Bath House Cultural Center
1983 - Los Angeles (United States) - Target Earget, at Double Rocking Gallery
1984 - São Paulo SP - 15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Art at Rua 2
1984 - São Paulo SP - Art Xerox Brasil, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1985 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Art on the Move, at The Art Exhibition Foundation
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Calligraphy and Scriptures, at Funarte. Sérgio Milliet Gallery
1985 - São Paulo SP - Arte Novos Meios/Multimeios: Brasil 70/80, at MAB/FAAP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Trends of the Artist's Book in Brazil CCSP
1985 - Waregem (Belgium) - Participate, at the Museum of Museums
1986 - Edmonton (Canada) - Images of Peace, at the University of Alberta. Ring House Gallery
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artistas da Bolsa Ivan Serpa, at Funarte
1986 - São Paulo SP - The new dimension of the object, at MAC/USP
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the collector: Homage to Gilberto Chateaubriand, at MAM/RJ
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1987 - São Paulo SP - A Trama do Taste: Another look at everyday life at the Bienal Foundation
1987 - Washington (United States) - Contemporary Artists from Brazil-Portugal, at the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute
1988 - Campinas SP - 13th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MACC
1988 - São Paulo SP - 19th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian artists, at MASP
1988 - São Paulo SP - Civilities of the Jungle: Myths and Indigenous Iconographies, at MAC/USP
1988 - São Paulo SP - The rhythms and forms: contemporary Brazilian art, at Sesc Pompéia
1989 - Copenhagen (Denmark) - Rhythms and Forms: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at the Charlottenborg Museum
1989 - London (England) - No Boundaries on the Planet of Tupis-Toris, London Ecology Center
1989 - São Paulo SP - The Aesthetics of Candomblé, at MAC/USP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Handmade paper in Latin America, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Indigenous traps, at Funarte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Indigenous traps, at Masp
1990 - São Paulo SP - Gente de Fibra, at Sesc Pompéia
1991 - São Paulo SP - National X International in Brazilian Art, at Paço das Artes
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Reciclo, at Funarte
1993 - Belém PA - 2nd Contemporary Art Salon, at the Fundação Cultural do Pará Tancredo Neves
1993 - Brasília DF - A look at Joseph Beuys, at the Athos Bulcão Foundation
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século 20th, at the Fundação Bienal
1997 - São Paulo SP - 3rd United Artist: Luz, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - Brasília DF - Cien Recuerdos for Garcia Lorca , Espaço Cultural 508 Sul
1999 - São Paulo SP - The resacralization of art, at SEC Pompéia
2000 - Brasília DF - Athos Criativos, at Conjunto Nacional Brasília
2000 - São Bento do Sapucaí SP - Athos Criativos, at O Casarão
2000 - São Paulo SP - Conceptual Art and Conceptualisms: 70's in the MAC/USP collection, at the SESI Art Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Role of Art, in the SESI Art Gallery
2001 - Fortaleza CE - Portraits: Belchior seen by great names and by himself, at the Oboé Cultural Center
2002 - Austin (United States) - Brazilian Visual Poetry, at the Mexic-Arte Museum
2002 - Brasília DF - Fragments in its Imam, in the contemporary cultural space Venâncio
2002 - Brasília DF - JK - an aesthetic adventure, in the cultural complex of the box
2002 - Curitiba PR - are or are not engravings, Londrina Art Museum
2002 - Fortaleza CE - Portraits: Belchior seen by big names and by himself, at the Oboé Cultural Center
2002 - Londrina PR - Are they or are they not engravings? at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Imaginary Mexico: The look of the Brazilian artist, at Casa das Rosas
2003 - Brasília DF - ObraNome, in the Caixa Cultural Complex
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Belchior: Portraits and Self-Portraits, at the Federal Justice Cultural Center
2003 - São Paulo SP - The Subversion of Media, at Itaú Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: a controversial relationship, in Itaú Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Meeting Place: Amélia Toledo Entre Nós, at Unicid
2003 - São Paulo SP - MAC USP 40 years: Contemporary Interfaces, at MAC/USP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Tomie Ohtake in the spiritual plot of Brazilian art, at the Tomie Ohtake Institute
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tomie Ohtake in the spiritual plot of Brazilian art, at MNBA
Source: Itaú cultural
