Gil Vicente (Recife PE 1958)
Painter, draftsman, engraver, photographer and sculptor. He began his studies at the Recife Arts School in 1972 and, from 1974 onwards, he also attends the workshops of the Federal University of Pernambuco - UFPE. In 1975, he received the first prize from the Salão dos Novos at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Olinda, Pernambuco. In 1978, he made his first solo show: paintings, drawings and engravings, at Galeria Abelardo Rodrigues, Recife. That year, he participates in the foundation of Oficina Guaianases de Engraving. After high school, he dedicated himself exclusively to the visual arts. He wins a scholarship from the French government and studies in Paris, from 1980 to 1981. In 1984, he exhibits at the 15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, from the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo - MAM/SP. In 1989, in Recife, he participated in the collective studio, where he made woodcuts under the guidance of Gilvan Samico (1928). The documentary Gil Vicente - Oficio e Silêncio is launched concomitantly with the exhibition Figuras/Pinturas, in 1996, at Galeria Futuro 25, Recife. From then on, its individual circulates through several cities in Brazil. In 2001, he participated in the 3rd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial, in Porto Alegre and the following year of the 25th São Paulo International Biennial. to materials such as paper, pencil, charcoal, ink, gouache, oil, canvas and traditional techniques such as engraving, photo or sculpture. The artist does not seek to innovate or mix materials and supports, despite recognizing that in contemporary art it is possible to work with anything. To the simplicity of means corresponds to an attempt to minimize the personal style that associates with mannerism. white which allows a game of contrasts. In the drawings, the black background establishes a deep solitude that surrounds the figures. In the heads, it highlights anguished features, which disfigure the faces, which there is always something missing. and fast exploring large areas of color, although the tones adopted are contained. The theme remains close: bodies and objects that refer to the lonely human life.
In the Safada Suite, 2005, the artist covers pages of books, leaving only part of the spaces between the words discovered, thus revealing occult pornographic scenes. In these veins.
This respect for the characteristics of the material is a facet of its rigor. Melancholy, he says, Gil Vicente does not fail to politically express his opinions. An eloquent example is the 2007 series Enemies, in which he portrays himself, violently killing current political leaders, from Lula and Bush to Benedict XVI and Queen Elizabeth II.
Criticism
"This quality, which we can call communicability, is the primordial characteristic of the pictorial production of this restless Pernambuco native, who is not attached to the intellect, to a style or to a particular technique. Caprice, in thin layers and smooth textures, which give their compositions an aesthetic refinement that has nothing to do with exoticism or the rebuilt forms that populate modern painting. (...) Fruits, vegetables and tropical scenarios are a constant thematic of the artist, but it is the portraits and the nudes that have occupied their most recent canvases. (...) At first, sober and restrained, Gil now seems to have matured in his way of living everyday life, releasing himself, breaking with an introspection that shaded the his compositions".
Luiz Fernando Freire
Gil Vicente. Ventura, Rio de Janeiro: Spala, n.4, p.100-110, Jun./Aug.1988.
Individual exhibitions
1978 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: paintings, drawings and engravings, at Abelardo Rodrigues Galeria de Artes
1980 - Olinda PE - Gil Vicente: Paintings and Drawings, at MAC/PE
1982 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Paintings, at Galeria Futuro 25
1983 - Belém PA - Gil Vicente: Guaches, at the ELF Art Gallery
1984 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Paintings, at Galeria Futuro 25
1986 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Landscapes, at Galeria Futuro 25
1987 - Fortaleza CE - Individual, at Duailibe Galeria
1988 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Recent Guaches, at Officina Galeria
1990 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Paintings, at Galeria Vicente do Rego Monteiro
1993 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Mortas Natures, at Galeria Futuro 25
1996 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Paintings, at Galeria Futuro 25
1997 - Salvador BA - Paintings with model, at Paulo Darzé Art Gallery
1997 - São Paulo SP - Sixty heads, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
1998 - João Pessoa PB - Sixty heads and other drawings, at the Arts Center Contemporary
1998 - Salvador BA - Sixty heads and other drawings, at MAM/BA 
1999 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente: Drawings, at mamam
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Gil Vicente: Drawings, at MAM/RJ
2000 - Porto Alegre RS - Gil Vicente: Drawings, at MAC/RS
2003 - Curitiba PR - Individual, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Curitiba
2004 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Nara Roesler
Collective exhibitions
1975 - Olinda PE - Salão dos Novos, at MAC/PE - First Prize
1976 - Recife PE - 29th Official Art Salon, at the Pernambuco State Museum
1977 - Olinda PE - Gil Vicente, Aprígio and Frederico, at the Corridor Gallery
1977 - Recife PE - 30th Official Art Hall, at the of the State of Pernambuco - First Prize Painting
1977 - Recife PE - New Pernambuco artists, at the Pernambuco State Museum
1977 - Recife PE - The drawing and engraving, at Abelardo Rodrigues Galeria de Artes
1978 - Curitiba PR - 1st Annual Engraving Exhibition City of Curitiba, at the Creativity Center
1978 - Recife PE - 31st Official Art Hall, at the Pernambuco State Museum
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian lithography, at Fundação Palácio das Arts
1979 - Curitiba PR - 2nd Annual Engraving Exhibition City of Curitiba, at the Creativity Center
1979 - Recife PE - 7 Artists in Focus, at the Art Gallery
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Workshop Guaianases, at Galeria Engravura Brasileira
1980 - Curitiba PR - 37th Salão Paranaense, at Teatro Guaíra
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3rd National Salon of Plastic Arts
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3rd National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MNBA 
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Gil Vicente, Maria Tomaselli and Luciano Pinheiro, at the Candido Mendes Cultural Center
1981 - Piracicaba SP - 14th Contemporary Art Salon of Piracicaba, at Casa das Artes Plásticas
1981 - Recife PE - 34th Salão de Artes Plásticas de Pernambuco, at the Pernambuco State Museum - Award Funarte
1981 - Recife PE - Panorama of Current Art in Pernambuco, at Galeria Lula Cardoso Ayres
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1984 - São Paulo SP - 15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Air painting Livre, at the Candido Mendes Cultural Center. Grande Galeria
1986 - Belém PA - 5th Salão Arte Pará, at the Romulo Maiorana Foundation
1986 - Brasília DF - Pernambucanos in Brasília, at the ECT Galeria de Arte
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Five from Pernambuco, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1987 - Recife PE - Imaginary and Sexuality, at Galeria Massangana
1987 - Recife PE - José Cláudio and Gil Vicente, at the Pernambuco State Museum
1988 - Curitiba PR - 8th Grupo Guaianases, at the Municipal Museum of Art
1988 - Recife PE - Gil Vicente, Gilvan Samico and José Barbosa, at Estudio A Galeria de Arte
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Cinco Pernambucanos, at the Art Gallery Ibeu Copacabana
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The fascinating world of Naifes painters, in the Imperial Palace
1989 - Olinda PE - Viva Olinda Viva, at Atelier collective
1989 - Recife PE - Nature of Painting, at the Adalgisa Falcão Cultural Center
1989 - São Paulo SP - Color of Pernambuco, at Ranulpho Art Gallery
1990 - Olinda PE - Permanence of painting, Atelier Coletivo
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Atelier Coletivo, at the Candido Mendes Cultural Center
1993 - Hamburgo (Germany) - Atelier Coletivo, at KM Wolff
1994 - Recife PE - Batalha dos Guararapes: a contemporary look, at the Pernambuco State Museum
1996 - Recife PE - Art and Religion, at Galeria Futuro 25
1997 - Recife PE - The Role of Art, in the Bandepe Cultural Space
1997 - Recife PE - Ver o Verso, at the Aloísio Magalhães Museum of Modern Art
1997 - São Paulo SP - The face of the other, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
1998 - Fortaleza CE - Ceará and Pernambuco: Dragons and Lions, at the Dragon Center of the Sea of Art and Culture
1998 - New York (United States) - Art International New Cork, at the Neuhoff Gallery
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - view from above it looks like a sky in the Chão, at MAM/RJ
1999 - São Paulo SP - Northeast, at Sesc Pompéia
2000 - Recife PE - Atelier Pernambuco: Homage to Bajado and Mamam Collection, at MAMAM
2001 - Porto Alegre RS - 3rd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial
2002 - Curitiba PR - Works by Faxinal das Artes, at MAC/PR
2002 - Recife PE - in seven times, in the Amparo Sixty Art Gallery
2002 - São Paulo SP - 25th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
2002 - São Paulo SP - Six artists at the 25th Bienal de São Paulo, at the Gallery Nara Roesler
2003 - Madrid (Spain) - ARCO/2003, at Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
2003 - Recife PE - see again/see the new, at Mamam
2003 - São Paulo SP - Arco 2003, at the Nara Roesler Gallery
Source: Itaú Cultural
