Márcio Sampaio (Santa Maria de Itabira MG 1941)
Art critic, painter, draftsman, poet and teacher.
At the age of 12 he began to paint, copying postcards and pictures from magazines. In 1953, he moved to Itabira, Minas Gerais, where he had his first painting lessons with Emília de Cause. He moved to Belo Horizonte in 1959 and enrolled at the Faculdade de Artes Visuais of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG. He exhibited Poemas-Cartazes [Poem-Posters] at the 1st Semana Nacional de Poesia de Vanguarda [National Avant-Garde Poetry Week], at the UFMG Rectorate, in 1963. Also in the early 1960s, he founded, with a group of friends, the avant-garde magazine Ptyx. He held his first solo exhibition in 1964, the same year he published the poetry book Rubro Apocalíptico [Apocalyptic Red]. He began working as an art critic for the newspaper Diário de Minas in 1965 and published his second book of poems, O Ciclo de Barro [The Clay Cycle]. The following year, he began contributing as an illustrator to the literary supplement of Minas Gerais, recently created by the writer Murilo Rubião (1916 - 1991). He took part in the 9th São Paulo International Biennial in 1967. Between 1968 and 1971, he was coordinator of the Museu de Arte da Pampulha - MAP (Belo Horizonte MG). In 1971, he began the series of works called Galeria Antropofágica [Anthropophagic Gallery] and, the following year, took over the coordination of the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte. He joined the Escola de Belas Artes of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - EBA/UFMG as a professor in 1977, retiring in 1999. In 2005, the exhibition Declaração de Bens [Declaration of Assets], a retrospective of his 50-year career, was held at the Grande Galeria of the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte.
Critical Commentary
Márcio Sampaio initially devoted himself to drawing, in which, as art historian Roberto Pontual notes, he reveals an interest in the customs and culture of Minas Gerais. The artist also explores questions of photography and the urban landscape, as in the series Indicações [Indications], n.d., and creates works from everyday objects.
One of his best-known series is the Galeria Antropofágica [Anthropophagic Gallery], begun in 1971, in which he recreates with humor and irony works by various Brazilian artists, such as Tarsila do Amaral (1886 - 1973), Milton Dacosta (1915 - 1988) and Amilcar de Castro (1920 - 2002), presenting them together with works by international artists, such as Piet Mondrian (1872 - 1944) and Kazimir Malevich (1878 - 1935).
During the 1970s, Sampaio began working as an art critic, writing first for Diário de Minas Gerais and then for the Suplemento Literário de Minas Gerais. As art historian Marília Andrés Ribeiro notes, the artist also sought to encourage the work of young artists from Minas Gerais, promoting group exhibitions such as Happening Brasil: a Festa, a Construção, Arte Total [Happening Brazil: The Party, the Construction, Total Art], 1970, which, through images from popular art and the modern repertoire, sought a reinterpretation of Brazilian culture. In the late 1960s, while coordinating the events of the Museu de Arte da Pampulha - MAP, he organized the 1st Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Belo Horizonte [Belo Horizonte Contemporary Art Salon], which opened space for the proposals of avant-garde artists from Minas Gerais, such as José Ronaldo Lima (1939), Lotus Lobo (1943), Jarbas Juarez (1936), Raymundo Colares (1944 - 1986) and Noviello (1929), among others. He curated major thematic exhibitions such as A Paisagem Mineira [The Minas Gerais Landscape], 1977, at the Palácio das Artes, which offers a broad reflection on the history of the local landscape, and Desenho Mineiro [Minas Gerais Drawing], 1979, at the same venue, which seeks to demonstrate the potential of this technique in Minas Gerais since modernism.
Collections
Centro Cultural UFMG - Belo Horizonte MG
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro Collection - MAM/RJ - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Museu de Arte da Pampulha - MAP - Belo Horizonte MG
Museu Mineiro - Belo Horizonte MG
Solo Exhibitions
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - First solo exhibition
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo
1983 - Belo Horizonte MG - A Ironia do Possível Face à Crise: Márcio Sampaio [The Irony of the Possible in the Face of Crisis: Márcio Sampaio], at Museu Mineiro
1985 - Brasília DF - Apontamentos para a Nova República [Notes for the New Republic], at Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal
Group Exhibitions
1963 - Belo Horizonte MG - Group shows, at Salão Municipal de Belas Artes
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - Artistas Mineiros [Minas Gerais Artists], at AAPMG
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - Desenhos de Bar [Bar Drawings], at Grande Hotel
1967 - Brasília DF - Artistas Brasileiros [Brazilian Artists], at Salão Hotel Nacional
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1968 - Belo Horizonte MG - 23º Salão de Belas Artes da Cidade de Belo Horizonte [23rd Belo Horizonte City Fine Arts Salon], at MAP
1968 - São Paulo SP - Artistas Mineiros [Minas Gerais Artists], at Galeria Mirante das Artes
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Dez Desenhistas Mineiros [Ten Minas Gerais Draftsmen], at ICBEU
1969 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4º Salão da Cultura Francesa [4th French Culture Salon]
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Exposição Happening Brasil: a Festa, a Construção, Arte Total [Happening Brazil Exhibition: The Party, the Construction, Total Art], at Cultura Francesa
1971 - Campinas SP - 7º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas [7th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon]
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Salão Santos Dumont [Santos Dumont Salon], at Palácio das Artes - prizewinner
1972 - Curitiba PR - 29º Salão Paranaense [29th Paraná Salon], at Teatro Guaíra
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1º Salão Global de Inverno [1st Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - Don Quixote, at Galeria Guignard
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - Jovens Artistas Premiados no Salão de Inverno [Young Prizewinning Artists of the Winter Salon], at Galeria de O Globo
1974 - Belém PA - Pré-Bienal Nacional: mostra regional [National Pre-Biennial: Regional Exhibition], at Teatro da Paz
1974 - Campinas SP - 9º Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas [9th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon], at MACC
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4 Artistas Mineiros [4 Minas Gerais Artists], at Galeria Marte 21
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Envelope, at Galeria Grupo B
1975 - Belo Horizonte MG - 3º Salão Global de Inverno [3rd Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Palácio das Artes - 1st prize
1975 - Belo Horizonte MG - Giramundo: cinco artistas mineiros [Giramundo: Five Minas Gerais Artists], at Galeria Guignard
1976 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4º Salão Global de Inverno [4th Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2ª Arte Agora: visão da terra [2nd Art Now: Vision of the Land], at MAM/RJ
1978 - Ouro Preto MG - Antropofagia: 50 anos do Manifesto Antropofágico [Anthropophagy: 50 Years of the Anthropophagic Manifesto], at Casa dos Contos
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - 6º Salão Global de Inverno [6th Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Clóvis Salgado. Companhia de Dança de Minas Gerais
1979 - Belo Horizonte MG - Figuração Referencial [Referential Figuration], at MAP
1980 - Belo Horizonte MG - 12º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas de Belo Horizonte [12th Belo Horizonte National Visual Arts Salon], at MAP
1980 - Belo Horizonte MG - 7º Salão Global de Inverno [7th Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1980 - Curitiba PR - 37º Salão Paranaense [37th Paraná Salon], at Teatro Guaíra
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 8º Salão Global de Inverno [8th Global Winter Salon], at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8º Salão Global de Inverno [8th Global Winter Salon], at MAM/RJ
1981 - São Paulo SP - 8º Salão Global de Inverno [8th Global Winter Salon], at Masp
1982 - Fortaleza CE - Salão Nacional de Arte do Ceará [Ceará National Art Salon], at Casa de Cultura Raimundo Cela
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5º Salão de Artes Plásticas da Noroeste [5th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon], at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [5th National Visual Arts Salon], at MAM/RJ
1983 - Belo Horizonte MG - A Ceia [The Supper], at Galeria Guignard
1984 - Belo Horizonte MG - Toma de Minas a Estrada [Take the Road from Minas], at Hotel Nacional
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradição e Ruptura: síntese de arte e cultura brasileiras [Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture], at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Belo Horizonte MG - Aquarelistas Brasileiros [Brazilian Watercolorists], at Companhia de Energia de Minas Gerais. Espaço Cultural Galeria de Arte
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Caminhos do Desenho Brasileiro [Paths of Brazilian Drawing], at Margs
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Le Déjeuner sur l'Art: Manet no Brasil [Le Déjeuner sur l'Art: Manet in Brazil], at EAV/Parque Lage
1989 - Ouro Preto MG - Ideologia Inconfidente em Processo [Inconfidência Ideology in Process], at Museu da Inconfidência
1991 - Belo Horizonte MG - BR/80: pintura Brasil década 80 [BR/80: Brazilian Painting of the 1980s], at Núcleo de Informática e Cultura Belo Horizonte
1996 - Belo Horizonte MG - Improviso para Guignard [Improvisation for Guignard], at Espaço Cultural Bamerindus Seguros
1996 - Curitiba PR - 53º Salão Paranaense [53rd Paraná Salon], at MAC/PR
1997 - Belo Horizonte MG - 25º Salão Nacional de Arte de Belo Horizonte [25th Belo Horizonte National Art Salon]
1997 - Belo Horizonte MG - Formação da Arte Contemporânea em Belo Horizonte [The Formation of Contemporary Art in Belo Horizonte], at MAP
Source: Itaú Cultural
