Hélio Rola (Fortaleza CE 1936)
Painter, draftsman, sculptor, printmaker and filmmaker.
Francisco Hélio Rola studied at the Sociedade Cearense de Artes Plásticas [Ceará Visual Arts Society] in 1949. He graduated in medicine in 1961 and, five years later, completed a graduate course in biochemistry at USP. Between 1967 and 1970, he studied painting with Joseph Tobin and Agnes Hart at the Art Students League in New York (United States), a period in which he also worked as a researcher at The Public Health Research Institute. As a member of the Grupo Aranha [Spider Group], he made several collective mural paintings in Fortaleza and São Paulo.
Critiques
"Amid a certain variety of attempts, one cannot yet observe a precise definition of path in the drawing and painting of this artist from Ceará, even after his further training at the Art Students League in New York with Agnes Hart. However, his interest in a figuration that becomes progressively simplified in its elements of line, mass and color is evident, from the children's portraits tending toward the 'fauve' to the rows of houses resolved within a flexible geometric scheme. This constructive propensity, sometimes close to a near-abstraction, serves him, as in Volpi, to accentuate the rudiments of the lyricism and iconography of popular sources, subjecting them to an optical play that corresponds very functionally to the playfulness of the expressive spontaneity he received from his Northeastern origin. The houses are decorated for a festival, the little flags cover them and link them from house to house, from sidewalk to sidewalk, in a single rhythmic space".
Roberto Pontual
PONTUAL, Roberto. Arte/Brasil/hoje: 50 anos depois. São Paulo: Collectio, 1973.
Solo Exhibitions
1971 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Galeria Gauguin
1973 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Opus
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Ponto de Arte
1974 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Museu de Arte da UFC
1981 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Centro Cultural de Meudon Val-Fleury
1982 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Museu de Arte da UFC
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo, Arte Postal: Prato Feito Arte [Mail Art: Set Meal Art], at Centro Cultural São Paulo
1990 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Museu de Arte da UFC
1996 - São Paulo SP - Hélio Rola, at MAC/USP
Group Exhibitions
1971 - São Paulo SP - Artistas do Ceará [Artists from Ceará], at Paço das Artes
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 21º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [21st National Salon of Modern Art] - acquisition prize
1972 - São Paulo SP - Arte/Brasil/Hoje: 50 Anos Depois [Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later], at Galeria da Collectio
1972 - São Paulo SP - Mostra de Arte Sesquicentenário da Independência e Brasil Plástica - 72 [Art Exhibition for the Sesquicentennial of Independence and Brasil Plástica - 72], at Fundação Bienal - first prize
1982 - Fortaleza CE - 8º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas do Ceará [8th Ceará National Visual Arts Salon] - acquisition prize
1985 - São Paulo SP - Brasil Desenho [Brazil Drawing], at CCSP
1985 - Campinas SP - Brasil Desenho [Brazil Drawing], at Galeria de Arte da Unicamp
1985 - São Paulo SP - Joias da Arte Postal [Jewels of Mail Art], at CCSP
1991 - Campinas SP - Nordeste Contemporâneo: 11 artistas [Contemporary Northeast: 11 Artists], at Centro de Convivência Cultural de Campinas
1991 - Fortaleza CE - Scap: 50 anos [Scap: 50 Years], at Imperial Othon Palace Hotel
1992 - Brasília DF - 43º Salão de Abril [43rd April Salon], at ECT Galeria de Arte
1992 - Fortaleza CE - 43º Salão de Abril [43rd April Salon], at Museu de Arte da UFC
1992 - Paris (France) - Arte Papel Nordeste Brasil [Paper Art Northeast Brazil], at Espaço Latino-Americano
1992 - Recife PE - 43º Salão de Abril [43rd April Salon], at Galeria Metropolitana de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - 43º Salão de Abril [43rd April Salon], at Casa das Rosas
1993 - Fortaleza CE - Museu: primeiras doações [Museum: First Donations], at Al'Kary Arte Contemporânea
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX [20th-Century Brazil Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1997 - Irving (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at University of Dallas - Haggar Art Gallery
1997 - Odessa (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at Gallery at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
1997 - Plano (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at Collin County Community College - Spring Creek Art Gallery
1997 - Republic of Macedonia - International Triennial of Graphic Art
1997 - São Paulo SP - Dimensões da Arte Contemporânea [Dimensions of Contemporary Art], at MAC/USP
1997 - Wichita Falls (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at Midwestern State University Art Gallery
1998 - Abilene (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at Abilene Christian University Shore Art Gallery
1998 - Baton Rouge (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Prints, at Louisiana State University
1998 - Fortaleza CE - Ceará e Pernambuco: dragões e leões [Ceará and Pernambuco: Dragons and Lions], at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura
1999 - Fortaleza CE - Arte Construtiva no Ceará [Constructive Art in Ceará], at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura
Source: Itaú Cultural
