Hilal Sami Hilal (Vitória ES 1952)
Multimedia artist. He studies visual arts at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes). In Minas Gerais, at the Ouro Preto Winter Festivals of 1973 and 1974, he studies metal engraving. In 1977, a year after graduating, he begins teaching at the university and researching handmade paper. In 1981, he attends the Diamantina Winter Festival, in Minas Gerais, to study fiber arts, and travels to Japan to perfect his papermaking technique. In 1984, he takes part in the 15º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP), and in the show Papéis do Papel [The Roles of Paper], at the Fundação Nacional de Arte - Funarte, in Rio de Janeiro. Two years later, he holds his first solo show at Galeria Usina, in Vitória. In 1996, he stops teaching to devote himself solely to his artistic production and takes part in the Mostra Brasil: Papel Feito à Mão [Brazil Show: Handmade Paper], in Ecuador. The following year, he exhibits at the 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP, and in group shows in India and Lebanon. His work then takes the form of lacework, which he shows in Germany, the United States, Spain and France. In 2002, he receives the jury prize at the 8th Paper Art Biennial, Turbulenzen in Papier, in Düren, Germany. In 2007, at the Museu Vale, in Vila Velha, he holds a large solo show that is later presented at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ and at Sesc Pompeia. Also in 2007, he takes part in the group show Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting, at the Museum of Arts and Design, in New York.
Critical Commentary
The work of Hilal Sami Hilal displays a wide variety of materials and meanings. Hilal begins by painting watercolors, but soon moves on to making handmade paper from a cotton pulp made of old clothes belonging to friends and family members. The papers are thick and layered, suggesting an archaeology, but they present themselves as paintings, since they have color and depth. The critic Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça (1947 - 1992) calls them flying carpets1. Hilal understands that in his work paper is not merely a support.
When he puts the paper pulp into a pastry bag and uses it to draw, the paper turns into lacework. This tracery recalls Arabic calligraphy and architecture, which refer to his family origins. The works he executes in metal sheet may consist of autonomous surfaces, gathered into books, or even rolled into a ball. He draws letters, numbers and people's names on grids and uses acid to corrode the blank areas. By overlapping the sheets, the artist creates concavities, highlighting the empty spaces.
Emptiness is also of great importance when he uses resin and other materials. It is present throughout his entire body of work. Hilal states that all his work can be related to the death of his father, which occurred when he was only 12 years old2. Through art, he seeks to deal with that absence, reconstructing this figure. His traveling exhibition, launched in 2007 at the Museu Vale do Rio Doce, in Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, titled Seu Sami [Mr. Sami], is a tribute to his father.
Notes
1 HERKENHOFF, Paulo. In: HILAL, Hilal Sami. Seu Sami. Vila Velha: Museu Vale do Rio Doce, 2007, p. 38.
2 Ibidem, p. 80.
Critiques
"(...) Basically, his work would be just paintings on paper. However, the result is more than that. Both the weave of the paper and the texture of the paints are as important as the variations of color. And the final images retain a sumptuous aspect, like the ancient tapestries of the Orient. As a skillful creator of images, Hilal manages to balance references from various periods. As if his forms, which evoke carpets, actually suggested the magic carpet that leaps in an instant from one era to another. Some of his pieces, for example, have a rich texture in gold, silver or bright red and point to visual solutions very close to Eastern lessons. In others, he uses graphite and gray, creating something like a great sculptural mantle where the physical side of the object also becomes very important. Finally, he also shows other images that take the viewer back to the Vienna of the end of the last century or to the textures of art nouveau crystals, in shades of yellow, white and violet. These cultural references in fact show through very discreetly. His forms are very free, independent, and even if the public has not the slightest initiation into this kind of association, the paintings continue to maintain their visual strength. (...)"
Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça
HILAL Sami Hilal: pinturas. Texto de Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça. Vitória: Galeria Usina, 1986.
Solo Exhibitions
1974 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria do Teatro Carlos Gomes
1976 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria do Teatro Carlos Gomes
1977 - São Mateus ES - Solo, at Espaço Aberto do Porto
1980 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa da UFES
1984 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa da UFES
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Maior
1986 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa da UFES
1986 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria Usina
1987 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria Usina
1988 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Galeria Tina Zappoli
1989 - Niterói RJ - Solo, at Galeria de Arte da UFF
1993 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Galeria Xerox do Brasil
1997 - Vitória ES - Hilal Sami Hilal: Limites, Oceano Atlântico [Hilal Sami Hilal: Limits, Atlantic Ocean], at Espaço Cultural Yázigi
1998 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria Kolamus
1998 - Vitória ES - Solo, at Museu Ferroviário da Vale do Rio Doce
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at H.A.P Galeria
2003 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1973 - Vitória ES - Group show, at Galeria Hilal
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [7th National Visual Arts Salon]
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Os Papéis do Papel [The Roles of Paper], at Funarte
1984 - São Paulo SP - 15º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1984 - Fortaleza CE - 7º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [7th National Visual Arts Salon]
1987 - Belo Horizonte MG - 19º Salão Nacional de Arte Contemporânea de Belo Horizonte [19th Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon], at MAP
1987 - Campinas SP - Papel no Brasil [Paper in Brazil], at MACC
1987 - João Pessoa PB - Group show, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1987 - Vitória ES - Artistas Capixabas [Artists from Espírito Santo], at Espaço Universitário da UFES
1989 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1989 - Vitória ES - Um Código 7 [A Code 7], at Álvaro Conde Galeria de Arte
1990 - Belo Horizonte MG - Encontro Latino-Americano de Papel Artesanal [Latin American Meeting of Handmade Paper]
1990 - Vitória ES - Arte Fragmentada [Fragmented Art], at Capela Santa Luzia
1991 - Vitória ES - BR/80, Pintura Brasil Década 80 [BR/80, Brazilian Painting of the 1980s], at Itaugaleria
1991 - Vitória ES - Porto 91 [Port 91], at Porto de Vitória
1993 - Brasília DF - Um Olhar sobre Joseph Beuys [A Look at Joseph Beuys], at Fundação Athos Bulcão
1996 - Quito (Ecuador) - Mostra Brasil de Papel Artesanal [Brazil Handmade Paper Show]
1997 - Beirut (Lebanon) - Mostra Brasileira [Brazilian Show], at Museu Nicolas Sursock
1997 - New Delhi (India) - Mostra Brasil de Papel Artesanal [Brazil Handmade Paper Show]
1997 - Ouro Preto MG - Experiências e Perspectivas: 12 visões contemporâneas [Experiences and Perspectives: 12 Contemporary Visions], at Museu Casa dos Contos
1997 - São Paulo SP - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1998 - Niterói RJ - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAC/Niterói
1998 - Recife PE - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at Mamam
1998 - Salvador BA - 25º Panorama de Arte Brasileira [25th Panorama of Brazilian Art], at MAM/BA
1999 - Niterói RJ - Confluências, a pintura nos anos 80 [Confluences, Painting in the 1980s], at UFF
1999 - Vitória ES - Sedução [Seduction], at Espaço Universitário da UFES
1999 - Vitória ES - Minha Vitória [My Vitória], at Capitania dos Portos
2001 - New York (United States) - The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at El Museo del Barrio
2002 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
2002 - São Paulo SP - 10 Anos Marília Razuk [10 Years of Marília Razuk], at Marília Razuk Galeria de Arte
2003 - Vila Velha ES - O Sal da Terra [The Salt of the Earth], at Museu Vale do Rio Doce
2004 - Vitória ES - Heterodoxia: edição Vitória [Heterodoxy: Vitória Edition], at Casa Porto das Artes Plásticas
Source: Itaú Cultural
