Nilson Pimenta (Caravelas BA 1957)
Draftsman and painter.
Nilson Pimenta da Costa taught himself to draw. From 1964 to 1978, he worked as a farmhand in the states of Espírito Santo and Mato Grosso. Once settled in Cuiabá, he refined his drawing and began painting in a studio under the guidance of Aline Figueiredo and Humberto Espíndola. In 1981, he became an instructor at the Ateliê Livre [Open Studio] of the Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular of the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso. From the start of his career, he stood out as a naïve artist, receiving several awards at salons.
Critiques
"He made his first drawings on paper with colored pencils, and it was through these that we learned of him, via the painter Adir Sodré, in early 1979. From there, moving on to painting and to large canvases was easy. He tackles them with determination, as if planting a field and, as if to quench a thirst, depicts the tall green forest, where dramatic or bucolic scenes full of narrative interest unfold. Ideas are no problem for him; they spring up naturally. He sits in front of a canvas and does not mind any noise around him. His imagination is extremely fertile and leads him to depict the stories people tell him, events of the moment and, above all, invented, recreated or remembered plots. Visually, the painting is rich in the sensitivity of its colored masses and in the spontaneity of a line that comes out unerring, clean and dry. The composition is full and the action of the painting has objectivity thanks to the expressiveness of the forms and their singular placement in the scenes, as if they obeyed an 'order' (...). The colors are vivid, with a predominance of green, the color of nature. Forest, animals and people make up the trilogy of his subject".
Aline Figueiredo
NILSON Pimenta. Apresentação de Aline Figueiredo. Cuiabá: Museu de Arte e de Cultura Popular UFMT, 1981.
Solo Exhibitions
1981 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular da UFMT
1983 - Cuiabá MT - Cenas da roça [Country Scenes], at Áurea Palace Hotel
1983 - Cuiabá MT - Pequenas e grandes obras [Small and Large Works], at Fundação Cultural de Mato Grosso
1984 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Casa Grande Galeria de Arte
1984 - Goiânia GO - Cenas da roça, situações do pantanal [Country Scenes, Pantanal Situations], at Casa Grande Galeria de Arte
1986 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Fundação Cultural de Mato Grosso
1987 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Fundação Cultural de Mato Grosso
1987 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Museu Mato Grossense de Arte Contemporânea
1990 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Pádua
1991 - Campo Grande MS - Solo, at Itaugaleria
1994 - Cuiabá MT - Grande Sarau Cuiabano [Great Cuiabá Soirée], at Global Garden Hotel
1995 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Infam
1996 - Cuiabá MT - 12 Telas [12 Canvases], at Antiga Residência do Governador
Group Exhibitions
1980 - Cuiabá MT - Artistas Mato-grossenses Hoje [Mato Grosso Artists Today], at Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular da UFMT
1980 - São Paulo SP - Primitivos de Mato Grosso [Primitives from Mato Grosso], at Masp
1981 - Brasília DF - Brasil-Cuiabá: Caboclo Painting, at Fundação Cultural de Brasília
1981 - Cuiabá MT - 5th Young Mato Grosso Art Salon - grand prize
1981 - Goiânia GO - Goiânia City Hall Regional Art Salon, at Centro de Cultura do Bosque dos Buritis - award winner
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Group show, at Galeria Cesar Aché
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brasil-Cuiabá: Caboclo Painting, at MAM/RJ
1981 - São Paulo SP - Brasil-Cuiabá: Caboclo Painting, at MAM/SP
1981 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Galeria Brasiliana
1982 - Assis SP - 3rd Assis Visual Arts Salon - acquisition prize
1982 - Assis SP - Assis City Hall Salon - acquisition prize
1982 - Cuiabá MT - Os meninos pintores do Pedregal [The Boy Painters of Pedregal], at Biblioteca da UFMT
1982 - Piracicaba SP - Ingênua e Primitiva [Naive and Primitive], at Sesc - intention prize
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1982 - São Paulo SP - O Brasil visto pelos pintores populares de Mato Grosso [Brazil Seen by the Folk Painters of Mato Grosso], at Masp
1982 - São Paulo SP - O Trabalho na Pintura Popular [Work in Folk Painting], at Museu da Casa Brasileira
1983 - Bauru SP - 2nd National Folk Painting Show, at Sesc
1983 - Cuiabá MT - Atelier Livre Group Show, at Biblioteca da UFMT
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ - award winner
1984 - Cuiabá MT - Group show, at Casa da Cultura
1984 - Fortaleza CE - 7th National Visual Arts Salon
1984 - Goiânia GO - Midwest Visual Arts Salon, at Bosque dos Buritis - acquisition prize
1984 - Presidente Prudente SP - 6th Presidente Prudente Visual Arts Salon, at Palácio da Cultura - honorable mention
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1985 - Cuiabá MT - Art in the Street, on the murals of Cuiabá - best mural prize
1985 - La Paz (Bolivia) - 10 Pintores Matogrossenses [10 Painters from Mato Grosso]
1985 - Presidente Prudente SP - 7th Visual Arts Salon, at Pinacoteca do Palácio da Cultura Dr. Pedro Furquim - honorable mention
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ - award winner
1985 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Várzea Grande MT - Mato Grosso - Luz das Águas [Mato Grosso - Light of the Waters], in the lobby of Aeroporto Marechal Rondon
1986 - Brasília DF - 9th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAB
1986 - Curitiba PR - 43rd Paraná Salon, at MAC/PR
1986 - Recife PE - 39th Pernambuco Visual Arts Salon, at Museu do Estado
1986 - São Paulo SP - Arte como forma de conhecimento [Art as a Form of Knowledge], at Faap
1986 - Vitória ES - Group show, at Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa da UFES
1987 - Campo Grande MS - 6th Mato Grosso do Sul Visual Arts Salon. Por uma Identidade Ameríndia [For an Amerindian Identity] - award winner
1987 - Recife PE - 40th Pernambuco Contemporary Art Salon, at Galeria Metropolitana Aloísio Magalhães
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5th Contemporary Art Salon, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Asunción (Paraguay) - Por uma Identidade Ameríndia [For an Amerindian Identity]
1988 - Campo Grande MS - 6th Mato Grosso do Sul Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Cultural - acquisition prize
1988 - Cuiabá MT - Aqua Agustica, at UFMT
1988 - Cuiabá MT - Negra Sensibilidade [Black Sensibility], at Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular da UFMT
1988 - La Paz (Bolivia) - Por uma Identidade Ameríndia [For an Amerindian Identity]
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Referências Pantaneiras na Pintura de Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul [Pantanal References in the Painting of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul], at Solar Grandjean de Montigny
1988 - São Paulo SP - Referências Pantaneiras na Pintura de Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul [Pantanal References in the Painting of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul], at Paço das Artes
1989 - Cuiabá MT - 1st Mato Grosso Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Cultural de Mato Grosso
1989 - Cuiabá MT - Momento da República na Arte Mato-grossense [The Republic in Mato Grosso Art], at UFMT
1990 - Cuiabá MT - 2nd Arte da Terra Show, at Tênis Clube
1990 - Cuiabá MT - Art Week, at Hotel Eldorado
1991 - Cuiabá MT - Cuiabá Art Fair, at Instituto Cuiabano de Educação
1991 - Curitiba PR - 48th Paraná Salon, at MAC/PR
1992 - Brasília DF - Group show, at Centro de Arte Primitiva de Brasília
1992 - Campo Grande MS - Guest Artists, at Galeria do Banco do Brasil
1992 - Curitiba PR - 49th Paraná Salon, at MAC/PR - special mention
1993 - Cuiabá MT - 13th Young Mato Grosso Art Salon, at Fundação Cultural
1994 - Araçatuba SP - Brazilian Art Biennial, at Sesc
1994 - Cuiabá MT - Mato Grosso Art Show, at Palácio da Instrução
1994 - Piracicaba SP - 2nd Brazilian Naïve Art Biennial, at Sesc
1995 - Florianópolis SC - 3rd Victor Meirelles National Salon, at Masc
1995 - Rondonópolis MT - Atelier Livre Show, at UFMT
1995 - São Paulo SP - O Divino na Visão [The Divine in Vision], at Sesc/SP - traveling exhibition
1996 - Piracicaba SP - 3rd Bienal Naifs do Brasil [Naive Art Biennial of Brazil], at Sesc
1996 - São Paulo SP - Visual Arts Show, at Sesc Pompeia
1997 - Belém PA - 3rd Unama Small Format Salon, at Galeria de Arte da Unama
1997 - Brasília DF - Group Show, at Centro de Arte Primitiva de Brasília
1997 - Florianópolis SC - 5th Victor Meirelles National Salon, at Masc/Fundação Catarinense de Cultura
1998 - Piracicaba SP - 4th Bienal Naifs do Brasil [Naive Art Biennial of Brazil], at Sesc
1999 - Belém PA - 5th Unama Small Format Salon, at Universidade da Amazônia. Galeria de Arte
2000 - Piracicaba SP - 5th Bienal Naifs do Brasil [Naive Art Biennial of Brazil], at Sesc - acquisition prize
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Folk Art, at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Folk Art, at Galeria Brasiliana
2001 - Brasília DF - Forma e Cor como Luz nos Naïfs [Form and Color as Light in the Naïfs], at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - Penápolis SP - Forma e Cor como Luz nos Naïfs [Form and Color as Light in the Naïfs], at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Culture 1, at Casa das Rosas
2002 - Piracicaba SP - 6th Bienal Naifs do Brasil [Naive Art Biennial of Brazil], at Sesc
2002 - São Paulo SP - Open Opera: Celebration, at Casa das Rosas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Pop Brazil: Popular Art and the Popular in Art, at CCBB
Source: Itaú Cultural
