José Rufino (João Pessoa PB 1965)
Visual artist and university professor.
In the late 1970s, José Augusto Costa de Almeida Rufino attends extension courses at the Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB). He begins his artistic output in the 1980s. In 1983 he moves to Recife, where he comes into contact with artists and poets linked to mail art and visual poetry, among them Paulo Bruscky (1949). He graduates in geology from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). In his works, he uses materials related to his family history, such as documents, letters, desks and chairs, which appear in his installations, objects and drawings. He wins first prize in the Library Week Poster Competition, held in Recife in 1988. He receives an honorable mention from the Projeto Nascente of the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in 1991 and, the following year, wins first prize in the project's second edition.
Critiques
"The titles of the installations [Respiratio, Vociferatio, Lacrimatio, Sudoratio], referring to the verbs to breathe, to shout, to shed tears and to sweat, respectively, are part of what the artist calls the "collection of sensations" found in childhood memories and in his deep dive into family history. It is no accident that they are all sensations of purging, which come from a core, flow out and take shape in the artworks like explosive secrets, kept and locked away for generations. It is a courageous process of purification.
The artistic career of José Rufino, from Paraíba, is anchored in a concern with personal and family history. Rufino works through his emotional baggage with an aesthetic care of subtle, sophisticated effects, which lead him to explore fields of unexpected meaning. The artist proves to be a masterful manipulator of symbols."
Kátia Canton
CANTON, Kátia. [José Rufino]. In: ANTARCTICA ARTES COM A FOLHA (1996 : SÃO PAULO); PRATA, Isabella (org.); AYDAR, Bia (org.). Antarctica Artes com a Folha. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 1998.
Testimonials
"My work merges with the process of life. There is no clear boundary between creation and non-creation. Where does the work end and the artist begin? I prefer to speak of the process of elaboration, which is a process of accumulating learning and forgetting, permeated by interferences from art history itself. Perhaps the works are not created but collected with a kind of sieve from a large, murky deposit of aesthetic and conceptual possibilities. (...) The paths to follow sometimes seem clear and sometimes completely murky, and it is precisely this ambiguity that keeps me from a mannerist use of the elements."
José Rufino
RUFINO, José. [José Rufino]. In: RODRIGUES, Elinaldo. A Arte e os artistas da Paraíba: perfis jornalísticos. João Pessoa: UFPB, 2001.
Solo Exhibitions
1992 - São Paulo SP - Programa de Exposições do Centro Cultural São Paulo [Centro Cultural São Paulo Exhibition Program], at Pavilhão da Bienal
1995 - João Pessoa PB - Respiratio, at Galeria Archidy Picado
1995 - Olinda PE - Respiratio, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Pernambuco
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Lacrymatio, at Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto
1997 - João Pessoa PB - Memoria Deporene, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1997 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Vicente do Rego Monteiro
1998 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Galeria Ruben Valentim
1998 - São Paulo SP - Cartas de Areia [Letters of Sand], at Adriana Penteado Arte Contemporânea
2001 - Natal RN - Solo, at Casa da Ribeira. Sala Petrobrás
2001 - Vila Velha ES - Murmuratio, at Museu Ferroviário Vale do Rio Doce
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Memento Mori, at Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto
2002 - João Pessoa PB - Obliteratio, at Centro Cultural São Francisco
2003 - Recife PE - Solo, at Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães - MAMAM
2005 - Niterói RJ - Incertae Sedis, at MAC/RJ
2005 - Recife PE - Axioma [Axiom], at Amparo 60
Group Exhibitions
1989 - João Pessoa PB - 2nd Salon of New Visual Artists of Paraíba, at Galeria do Sesc - first prize
1989 - João Pessoa PB - Agenda de Exposições [Exhibition Calendar], at Galeria do Sesc
1989 - João Pessoa PB - 5th Municipal Visual Arts Salon, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea - City of João Pessoa grand prize
1989 - Olinda PE - Pernambuco Visual Arts Salon, at Centro de Convenções
1990 - João Pessoa PB - 2nd Paraíba Current Art Show, at Espaço Cultural
1990 - João Pessoa PB - Infinitamente [Infinitely], at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1990 - João Pessoa PB - Arte Sobre Papel II [Art on Paper II], at Galeria Gamela
1991 - Curitiba PR - 48th Paraná Salon, at MAC/PR
1991 - Havana (Cuba) - Cuba'91, at Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño
1991 - João Pessoa PB - 5th Municipal Visual Arts Salon, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea - special prize
1991 - São Paulo SP - Visualidade Nascente [Emerging Visuality], at MAC/USP
1992 - João Pessoa PB - Workshop Berlin/Paraíba, at Espaço Cultural
1992 - São Paulo SP - Annual Visual Arts Exhibition Program, at CCSP
1992 - Marseille (France) - Le Hors Là, at Tour du Roi René
1993 - Barcelona (Spain) - Group show, at Escola Massana
1993 - João Pessoa PB - Le Hors Là, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1993 - Recife PE - Le Hors Là, at Museu do Estado
1993 - São Paulo SP - Visualidade Nascente II [Emerging Visuality II], at MAC/USP
1994 - João Pessoa PB - Opening group show, at Centro de Artes Visuais Tambiá
1994 - Salvador BA - 1st MAM-Bahia Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/BA
1994 - Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal) - Um Olhar Sobre os Trópicos [A Look at the Tropics], at Museu de Teixeira
1995 - João Pessoa PB - Group show, at Galeria Gamela/Sebrae
1995 - Campina Grande PB - Visões do Borborema [Visions of the Borborema], at Museu Assis Chateaubriand
1995 - João Pessoa PB - Group show, at Galpão do Varadouro
1996 - Campina Grande PB - Mostra 96, at Museu Assis Chateaubriand
1996 - João Pessoa PB - Mostra 96, at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1996 - João Pessoa PB - Visões do Cabo Branco [Visions of Cabo Branco], at Espaço Cultural
1996 - João Pessoa PB - Anos 80: artistas emergentes [The 1980s: Emerging Artists], at Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea
1996 - João Pessoa PB - Apocalipse XII [Apocalypse XII], at Centro Cultural São Francisco
1996 - São Paulo SP - Antarctica Artes com a Folha, at Pavilhão Padre João Manoel
1997 - Berlin (Germany) - Ausstellung der Dozenten, at Quartier 206 - Friedrichstadt-Passagen
1997 - Greifswald (Germany) - Kunst aus Brasilien [Art from Brazil], at Ausstellungszentrum, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität
1997 - Havana (Cuba) - 6th Havana Biennial, at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
1997 - São Paulo SP - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1997 - São Paulo SP - 1st Contemporary Legacies, at MAC/USP
1998 - Berlin (Germany) - Group show, at Instituto Cultural Brasileiro - ICBRA
1998 - Maracaibo (Venezuela) - 3rd Bienal Barro de América Roberto Guevara, at Centro de Artes Maracaibo Lia Bermudez
1998 - Niterói RJ - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAC-Niterói
1998 - Recife PE - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães - MAMAM
1998 - Salvador BA - 25th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/BA
1998 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Barro de América Roberto Guevara, at MuBE
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - 2nd Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial, at Armazém do Cais do Porto
1999 - Goiânia GO - Entre Eu e o Mundo... [Between Me and the World...], at MAC/GO
1999 - São Paulo SP - Entre o Eu e o Mundo... [Between the Self and the World...], at Funarte
1999 - São Paulo SP - Northeasts, at Sesc Pompeia
1999 - Campina Grande PB - Arte Contemporânea da Paraíba [Contemporary Art from Paraíba], at Museu de Arte Assis Chateaubriand
1999 - Paris (France) - Identidades: Artistas de América Latina y del Caribe [Identities: Artists from Latin America and the Caribbean], at Galerie du Passage du Reux
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Extra-large Extra-small, at Centro Cultural Correios
1999 - São Paulo SP - Extra-large Extra-small, at Galeria Nara Roesler
1999 - Goiânia GO - Extra-large Extra-small
1999 - São Paulo SP - Nineteen Heads, at Adriana Penteado Arte Contemporânea
2000 - Recife PE - Origem [Origin], at Observatório Cultural Malakoff
2000 - Paris (France) - L'Art dans Le Monde, at Pont Alexandre III
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Particular [The Particular], at CCCM
2001 - São Paulo SP - Palavra-Figura [Word-Figure], at Paço das Artes
2001 - São Paulo SP - Autorretrato - Espelho do Artista [Self-Portrait - The Artist's Mirror], at Centro Cultural Fiesp
2001 - Madrid (Spain) - ARCO - International Contemporary Art Fair
2002 - Curitiba PR - Works from Faxinal das Artes, at MAC/PR
2002 - Brasília DF - Fragmentos a seu Ímã: obras-primas do MAB [Fragments to Their Magnet: Masterpieces from MAB], at Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo Venâncio
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporâneo [Paths of the Contemporary], at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - 25th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sandra Cinto, José Rufino, at Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto
2002 - São Paulo SP - Paralela, in a warehouse at Avenida Matarazzo, 530
2003 - São Paulo SP - Pele, Alma [Skin, Soul], at CCBB
2003 - Curitiba PR - Heterodoxia: edição Curitiba [Heterodoxy: Curitiba Edition], at Museu Metropolitano de Arte de Curitiba
2004 - Vitória ES - Heterodoxia: edição Vitória [Heterodoxy: Vitória Edition], at Casa Porto das Artes Plásticas
2004 - Fortaleza CE - Heterodoxia: edição Fortaleza [Heterodoxy: Fortaleza Edition], at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura
2004 - São Paulo SP - Heterodoxia: edição Latino-Americana [Heterodoxy: Latin American Edition], at Galeria Marta Traba - Memorial da América Latina
2004 - São Paulo SP - The Biennials: A Look at Brazilian Production 1951/2002, at Galeria Bergamin
2004 - Recife PE - Coleção Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães: doações 2001 - 2004 [Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães Collection: Donations 2001 - 2004], at MAMAM
2005 - Recife PE - Umas-Grafias [Some-Graphies], at Amparo Sessenta Galeria de Arte
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Nanoexposição [Nano-exhibition], at Arte em Dobro
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Jogo da Memória [Memory Game], at MAM/RJ
2005 - São Paulo SP - 5th Barro de América, at Galeria Marta Traba - Memorial da América Latina
2005 - São Paulo SP - BR 2005, at Galeria Virgílio
2006 - Natal RN - 5x5, at Centro Cultural Casa da Ribeira
Source: Itaú Cultural
