Macaparana (Macaparana PE 1952)
Macaparana is a painter, draftsman and sculptor. Self-taught, José de Souza Oliveira Filho began his career as a figurative painter. He held his first solo exhibition in Recife, in 1970, at the gallery of the Empresa de Turismo de Pernambuco (Empetur). In 1972, he moved to Rio de Janeiro and, in 1973, to São Paulo, where he settled permanently. For about ten years, he exhibited works on the theme of ex-votos in both cities. In 1983, his contact with Willys de Castro (1926–1988), a leading figure of Neo-Concretism, was decisive in changing his artistic production. He took part in the 21st São Paulo International Biennial in 1991.
His solo and group exhibitions have been held in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Brasília, Mexico, Japan, New York and London. In 2009, he held a solo exhibition of sculptures, paintings and drawings at Galería Cayón in Madrid, and took part in the group show Materia Gris [Gray Matter] at the same gallery.
Critical Commentary
At the beginning of his career, in the 1970s, Macaparana made paintings focused on the aridity of his native region - the backlands of Pernambuco. Later, the theme of the ex-voto gained strength in his painting. This object of devotion, however, is not taken as a metaphor for northeastern religiosity, nor even as an expression of archaic Brazilian behavior, as the critic Olívio Tavares de Araújo points out, but rather as a volume of wood whose textures enchant the artist. Gradually, the ex-voto theme was abandoned and Macaparana began to reproduce only the textures of wood on canvas, in a growing process of geometrization. At the same time, he became interested in building volumes from scraps of this material. Regarding these works, the critic Frederico Morais considers that the artist manages to extract all its poetic and constructive force from the poverty of the material, working with hoardings, construction debris and decaying furniture. By joining these fragments or wood chips in a new order, he keeps their original colors and textures, what remains of old layers of paint, the irregularities and damage, as if seeking to capture a temporal dimension in these remnants of an urban archaeology. The encounter with the work of Willys de Castro (1926-1988) marked a turning point in the Pernambuco artist's work. A new phase thus began in his career, in open dialogue with Neo-Concretism, dominated by straight-line segments and the most elementary forms, such as the triangle, the rectangle and the square. Remaining in the field of geometry, Macaparana broadened the range of materials he used, working with polystyrene, acrylic and steel from the 2000s on.
Critiques
"Wooden ex-votos, imitated to perfection. The background of these pictures also resembled wooden boards with their grooves, grains and knots. It was a painting at once refined (in technique) and barbaric in expression. Now (...) there are no longer ex-votos or any other figures in Macaparana's pictures. (...) The paintings are geometric constructions, rigorously structured and aiming at an interplay of planes and levels determined by the tonal variation of the colors. The tones are generally cool and somber, in contrast with others of more vibrant color. The texture still suggests imitation of wood, though without the imitative concern of the previous phase. The reliefs are made of actual wood, leftovers from building sites, chips, fragments, sometimes with the color they had on the hoarding or the dismantled object".
Ferreira Gullar
GULLAR, Ferreira. Reencontro com a infância: Macaparana. Isto É, São Paulo, 8 maio 1985.
"Macaparana (1952, Pernambuco) has followed a complete path, in keeping with the evolution of contemporary art. But he experienced this path within himself and in just a few years. He emerged as an extremely delicate painter of harsh landscapes and, later, of harsh figures. The only beings to people this painting of desolation were lifeless beings. Death inhabited his painting through artificial or disintegrating characters. From these characters in desolate landscapes, the artist concentrated on the figure of the ex-voto. He gave the ex-voto the dubious role of an inorganic, lifeless character. Macaparana painted the Northeast as a world stripped of vital possibilities. Everything was metamorphosed into suffered experience, stripped of vital existence. From these ex-votos, inorganic and beautiful matter, Macaparana organized, through the composition of the work, a delicate constructive network that he has now made the very essence of the painting. A delicate, innovative constructivism, full of invention and memories. And this construction, indeed, for the first time, full of life".
Jacob Klintowitz
KLINTOWITZ, Jacob. O ofício da arte: a pintura. São Paulo, SESC, 1987.
Collections
Museu de Arte Brasileira (MAB/Faap) - São Paulo SP
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC/USP) - São Paulo SP
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (Masp) - São Paulo SP
Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM/SP) - São Paulo SP
Pinacoteca do Estado (Pesp) - São Paulo SP
Solo Exhibitions
1970 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Empetur
1971 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Empetur
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Velha Mansão
1974 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Nega Fulô
1975 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Portal
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Campestre do Sesc
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1980 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Seta
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Macaparana: pinturas [Macaparana: Paintings], at Galeria Bonino
1983 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Mônica Filgueiras de Almeida Galeria de Arte
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Macaparana: pinturas e relevos [Macaparana: Paintings and Reliefs], at Galeria Bonino
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Museu de Arte Brasileira
1986 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Mônica Filgueiras de Almeida Galeria de Arte
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Macaparana: esculturas e relevos [Macaparana: Sculptures and Reliefs], at Galeria Bonino
1987 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Sesc Pompeia
1988 - São Paulo SP - Macaparana - Pinturas Recentes [Macaparana - Recent Paintings], at Mônica Filgueiras de Almeida Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Sala Mira Schendel
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1994 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2000 - São Paulo SP - Macaparana: obras recentes [Macaparana: Recent Works], at Dan Galeria
2002 - Campinas SP - Macaparana: desenhos e pinturas [Macaparana: Drawings and Paintings], at Galeria de Arte Unicamp/IA
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Arte em Dobro
2004 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Dan Galeria
2009 - Madrid (Spain) - Solo, at Galería Cayón
2010 - São Paulo SP - Macaparana: formas cortadas [Macaparana: Cut Forms], at Dan Galeria
2010 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Solo, at Jorge Mara-La Ruche
2011 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Denise René
Group Exhibitions
1972 - London (United Kingdom) - Group exhibition, at Portal Gallery
1973 - London (United Kingdom) - Group exhibition, at Williams & Son Gallery
1973 - São Paulo SP - 10 Artistas de Tendência Fantástica [10 Artists of Fantastic Tendency], at Sobrado Galerias de Arte
1984 - Mexico City (Mexico) - 4th Ibero-American Art Biennial - guest artist
1984 - São Paulo SP - Group exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada
1985 - São Paulo SP - Group exhibition, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1985 - Tokyo (Japan) - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada
1986 - São Paulo SP - 4th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - São Paulo SP - Group exhibition, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1987 - Brasília DF - Paulistas em Brasília [São Paulo Artists in Brasília], at Museu de Arte de Brasília
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18 Contemporâneos [18 Contemporaries], at Dan Galeria
1987 - São Paulo SP - O Ofício da Arte: pintura [The Craft of Art: Painting], at Sesc
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 Anos: aquisições e doações recentes [MAC 25 Years: Recent Acquisitions and Donations], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1991 - São Paulo SP - 21st São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tendências Construtivas no Acervo MAC USP: construção, medida e proporção [Constructive Tendencies in the MAC USP Collection: Construction, Measure and Proportion], at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
1996 - São Paulo SP - Mostra do Acervo [Collection Exhibition], at Sudameris Galleria
1997 - La Paz (Bolivia) - Arte Brasileira Contemporânea [Contemporary Brazilian Art], at Espaço Simón I. Patiño
1997 - Quito (Ecuador) - Arte Brasileira Contemporânea [Contemporary Brazilian Art], at Fundação das Artes Kingman
1997 - São Paulo SP - Dimensões da Arte Contemporânea [Dimensions of Contemporary Art], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1997 - São Paulo SP - Acervo Contemporâneos na Pinacoteca [Contemporary Collection at the Pinacoteca], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1998 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Eletromídia de Arte: exposição virtual [Virtual Exhibition], at Avenida Cidade Jardim x Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima
1998 - São Paulo SP - Doações Recentes 97/98 [Recent Donations 97/98], at Museu de Arte Moderna
1998 - São Paulo SP - Obras em Destaque [Featured Works], at Dan Galeria
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Brazilianart [Brazilianart Project], at Almacén Galeria de Arte
2003 - São Paulo SP - Arteconhecimento: 70 anos USP [Art-Knowledge: 70 Years of USP], at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
2004 - São Paulo SP - Brasileiro, Brasileiros [Brazilian, Brazilians], at Museu Afro Brasil
2005 - Curitiba PR - Arte em Metrópolis [Art in Metropolis], at Museu Oscar Niemeyer
2005 - São Paulo SP - Arte em Metrópolis [Art in Metropolis], at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2006 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana Masp: moderna contemporânea [Brasiliana Masp: Modern Contemporary], at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
2009 - Madrid (Spain) - 28th Arco
2009 - Madrid (Spain) - Materia Gris [Gray Matter], at Galería Cayón
2009 - São Paulo SP - 40th Chapel Art Show, at Escola Maria Imaculada - Chapel School
2009 - São Paulo SP - Branco & Preto [White & Black], at Galeria Daslu
2010 - São Paulo SP - 6th SP-Arte, at Fundação Bienal
2011 - São Paulo SP - 7th SP-Arte, at Pavilhão da Bienal
Source: Itaú Cultural
