Birajara Ribeiro (São Paulo SP 1930 - Idem 2002)
Birajara Ribeiro was an aquarellist, engraver, painter, teacher and architect. In 1948, he studied painting with Vicente Mecozzi (1909–1964) and, between 1952 and 1954, studied with Pedro Corona, João Rossi (1923–2000) and Waldemar da Costa (1904–1982). He graduated in Architecture from Mackenzie University in 1954. In 1956, he moved to Salvador and attended the free engraving course with Mario Cravo Júnior (1923) at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Bahia.
In 1960, he received a scholarship from the French government and carried out an internship at the architects Guillaume Gillet (1912–1987) and Paul Chemetov (1928) in Paris. In the 1960s, he was part of the group of five architects-painters, alongside Maurício Nogueira Lima (1930–1999), Flávio Império (1935–1985), Sérgio Ferro (1938) and Samuel. Szpigel (1936). He began his career as a professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Universidade Mackenzie and at Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP). Mataripe Refinery in Salvador and the Plano-Director of Campos do Jordão, in São Paulo, among others. In 1971, he prepared, with Walter Maffei, the assembly project of the 11th International Bienal de São Paulo. The following year, he took classes in metal engraving with Evandro Carlos Jardim (1935) at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP).
In 1976, he definitively left architecture to dedicate himself to the visual arts. In 1980, he organized the exhibition Papels e Cia. in the Paço das Artes, which resulted in the Cooperativa de Artistas Plósticos de São Paulo, extinct in the same year. In the early 1960s, it has affinities with pop art, as it explores erotic suggestions related to advertising. The artist starts to use as "frames", in his works, pieces of furniture and other precarious materials, as in A Luta, 1965, in which he combines old materials with a refined painting technique. It is also frequent in his work the insertion of letters or words.
His production is organized in series of works linked by the thematic concern. In works exhibited in 1987, he works from 1903-1904 postcards, on which he performs interference or creates collages. His works show great lightness and also a playful character.
As the critique of Morais, the artist, one of the main water-relists in the country, shifts the main axis of his questions from the pictorial question to the universe of drawing. Despite the use of traditional watercolor materials, the main concern is not the stain of color, but the trace, the brush gesture.
The artist moves with great freedom between figuration and abstraction, performing works with a wide variety of techniques: drawing, watercolor, painting, engraving and object.
Critics
"(...) Of the three Brazilian artists who introduced Pop Art to the country, Cordeiro, Wesley and Ubirajara, we found the third happiest of all. Ironic, irreverent and aggressive pop art, Ubirajara caught his playful, light, dancing and musical spirit. Pop art is against serious art and the serious and severe notion of composition. In pop art predominates, especially in the case of Ubirajara, a spirit of lightness that plays and plays with compositional elements, in fact, with a lot of mastery and sensitivity, the observer is almost invited - as well as in the case of neoconcretism - to actively participate in the compositional game. What predominates in Pop Art are compositional games, open to each one's playful collaboration. Ubirajara proved to be a master of lightness, inventiveness, good taste and poetry".
théon spanudis
[Text written originally in 1964]
SPANUDIS, Théon. The Pop-Art of Ubirajara. Habitat, nº 79, 1964, apud Peccinini, Daisy. (Coord.). The object in the art: Brasil Anos 60s. São Paulo : FAAP, 1978, p.206-207.
"The territory where the art of Ubirajara advances is a subtle fabric of memories and gestures, articulations that float between the conscious and the unconscious, halfway between the definition of form and its dispersion in space. Its target is the moment that is not repeated, the fragment of time trapped by the gesture. (...). One of the country's greatest masters of water, he shifts the main axis of his questions from the pictorial question to the universe of drawing. Despite continuing to use traditional watercolor materials, the focus now is not the color spot, but the brush gesture, the line. Without being a graphic, the result benefits from the intimacy and experience of Ubirajara in making constructions from the line (...)" 1992]
Louzada, Maria Alice do Amaral, Louzada, Júlio Plastic Arts Brazil 1996 : its market, its auctions. Photograph by Sérgio Guerini. São Paulo : Júlio Louzada, 1996. p.702-703.
"It belongs to a generation that, in the 1960s, under the influence of North American pop art and the new European figurations, reintroduced the figure also in Brazilian art, ending the Fasty of the two abstractions, the constructive and the informal. Among others, Antônio Dias, Rubens Gerchman, Roberto Magalhães, Carlos Vergara, Wanda Pimentel, Maria do Carmo Secco stood out in Rio. In São Paulo, Wesley Duke Lee (rigorous, a little older than Ubirajara), Marcello Nitsche, Cláudio Tozzi and José Roberto Aguilar (younger than him). All were very active in the 70's and 80's and are today, so to speak, consecrated.
Who followed from an early age and closely followed these movements was Walter Zanini, then director of the Museum of Contemporary Art at USP and exhibition organizer today. historical, such as 'Jovem Engravura', 'Jovem Desenho' and 'Jovem Arte Nacional'. With his knowledge of the facts, Zanini writes in his expansive general history of art in Brazil that Ubirajara has been developing 'a tranquil and refined production, with a graphic predominance, which was elongated in time through sets of works governed by the thematic concern'. Even when he paints or incurs in other techniques, a designer is mainly preserved, for the subtlety, for the intimate spirit, for the connection with a very personal universe of fantasies treated Sotto Voce, almost in soliloquy, speaking more to himself, without Give in to effects, not wanting to impress.
It is true that, from a certain angle, the work of Ubirajara Ribeiro always impresses: for its brightness, for its virtuosity. Endowed with exceptional talent and technique, it inevitably performs impeccable and seductive works, often coated with a slight aura of mystery. But it is not, in his case, of external resources or tricks of the craft, falsely gathered with the function of pleasing. They are the natural way in which the work comes to the surface, the point of arrival of a clear, fluent and (at least apparently) serene process, which flows into a precise beauty. Engraving, painting, object, always with the same broad domain of techniques, and investigates them in their specificities, and uses them as supports for different investigations in the expressive process itself. It moves with absolute freedom between figuration and abstraction, and it is impressive how both languages dominate. Sometimes he strives to control, in this or that series, each step and each result, sometimes invokes the collaboration of the unforeseen and chance, in another. Each proposal generates its own solutions.
(...)
Birajara Ribeiro is certainly an inventor, not only in ways but also in ways to obtain them. creates within creation. limited to apparently even conventional limits - intimacy, soliloquy, small formats, watercolor, delicate gesture - preserves in art its basic coefficient of experimental adventure".
Olivio Tavares de Araújo
RIBEIRO, Ubirajara Segments. São Paulo: Multiple Art, 2001.
Individual exhibitions
1960 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Ponto de Meeting
1964 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Mobilinea Gallery
1964 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Arrow Art Gallery
1965 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Mobilínea Gallery
1965 - Taubaté SP - Individual, at the Mobilínea Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Meeting Point Gallery
1969 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Arrow Art Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Arrow Art Gallery
1975 - São Paulo SP - Ubirajara Ribeiro: Retrospective, at MAC/USP
1977 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Graphus Art Gallery - Award APCA
1979 - Caxias do Sul RS - Individual, at Clube Juvenil
1979 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Itaugaleria
1980 - Recife PE - Individual, at Artespaço Galeria de Art
1980 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Sesc Paulista
1981 - Florianópolis SC - Individual, at MASC
1981 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at Galeria Guignard
1981 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the SESC Paulista gallery
1982 - Guarujá SP - Individual, at the Jequitimar Hotel
1982 - São Paulo SP - Art on paper, at the Suzanna Sassoun Gallery
1983 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria SESC Paulista
1985 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at CCSP
1987 - São Paulo SP - The Parties (of) Ubirajara, in Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Art
1991 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Quo Vadis Cultural Space
1992 - Bauru SP - Individual, at the Municipality of Bauru
1992 - Santos SP - Individual, at the Patrícia Cultural Center Galvão
1992 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Paralelo 23
1993 - São Paulo SP - The End-A-Final, at Paulo Figueiredo Art Gallery
1993 - Sonoma (United States) - Individual, at Sonoma University Art Gallery
1993 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the University Art Gallery
1993 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the Library of Congress
1998 - Campinas SP - Individual, at Tênis Clube
1998 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Galeria Espaço Azul
2000 - Belém PA - Individual, at the Centro Cultural Brasil United States
2001 - São Paulo SP - Ubirajara Ribeiro: Segments, at Multiple Art
Collective exhibitions
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Petit Salon, at Maison de France - Exterior Travel Award
1956 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists from Bahia, at Galeria Oxumaré
1957 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at MAM/SP
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1958 - São Paulo SP - 7th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1961 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - Acquisition Award
1964 - São Paulo SP - 13th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna - Gold Medal
1965 - Porto Alegre RS - 5 Vanguard Painters, at Margs
1965 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, at MAC/USP
1965 - São Paulo SP - Proposals 65, at MAB/FAAP
1966 - Campinas SP - 1st São Paulo Youth Modern Art Salon, at Macc
1966 - Campinas SP - 2nd Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas - Acquisition Award
1966 - Curitiba PR - 23rd Salão Paranaense de Belas Artes, at the Paraná Public Library
1966 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo Salão de Arte Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Galeria Cosme Velho: Inaugural Exhibition, at the Cosme Velho Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Three premises, at MAB/FAAP
1967 - Campinas SP - 3rd Contemporary Art Salon in Campinas, Macc
1967 - São Caetano do Sul SP - 1st Contemporary Art Salon of São Caetano do Sul
1967 - São Paulo SP - 16th São Paulo Salão de Arte Moderna - Acquisition Award
1967 - São Paulo SP - 6 painters of the new objectivity, at IAB/SP
1968 - Campo Grande MS - 28 artists from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, in the Diário da Serra
1968 - São Caetano do Sul SP - 2nd Contemporary Art Salon of São Caetano do Sul
1969 - Fortaleza CE - 28 artists from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, at the Raimundo Cela Visual Arts Center
1971 - São Paulo SP - 11th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1972 - Campinas SP - 8th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MACC - Acquisition Award
1972 - São Paulo SP - 2nd International Engraving Exhibition, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Uranus Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition, at Galeria Uranus
1972 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective Waldemar da Costa: Homage to the Master, at MAM/SP
1973 - Brasília DF - Architects Painters, at the Touring Club do Brasil
1974 - Barcelona (Spain) - Arte Grafico Brasileño Hoy, in the Expositions de la Direcion General de Bellas Artes
1974 - São Paulo SP - Prospectiva'74, at Mac/USP
1978 - São Paulo SP - 1st Exhibition of the Mobile and the Unusual Object, at the Paço das Artes - Awarded
1978 - São Paulo SP - Vadio myths, in parking at Rua Augusta
1978 - São Paulo SP - The object in art: Brasil 60s, at MAB/FAAP
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - Technical Engravings, at Faculdade Padre Manoel da Nóbrega
1979 - São Paulo SP - Drawing as an instrument, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1979 - São Paulo SP - Return to the figure: 60's, at the Lasar Segall Museum
1979 - Washington (United States) - Brazilian artists, at Baci
1980 - São Paulo SP - 12th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, MAM/SP
1981 - Bogotá (Colombia) - 10 Brazilian artists, at the Bogotá Modern Art Museum
1981 - Campinas SP - Plastic architects/artists, at MacC
1981 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Collective of Engravings, at Itaugaleria
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Northwest Visual Arts Salon, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1982 - São Paulo SP - Lettres à Moi Même, at the Suzanna Sassoun Gallery
1983 - São Paulo SP - 14th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, MAM/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - Amnesty Internacional/Brazil, at MIS/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - Avenida Paulista, at Galeria Sesc Paulista
1984 - Hague (Holland) - The color and the drawing of Brazil
1984 - Lisbon (Portugal) - The color and design of Brazil
1984 - London (England) - The color and design of Brazil
1984 - Madrid (Spain) - the color and the drawing of Brazil
1984 - Paris (France) - The color and design of Brazil
1984 - Rome (Italy) - The color and design of Brazil
1984 - São Paulo SP - 15th Panorama de Arte current Brazilian, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - The color and design of Brazil, at MAM/SP 
1985 - California (United States) - Brazil: 10 works on paper, Sonoma State University Art Gallery
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Northwest Plastic Arts Hall, at the Penápolis Educational Foundation. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1985 - São Paulo SP - The Art of the Imaginary, at Galeria Encontro das Artes
1985 - São Paulo SP - Arte Movimento, at Paulo Figueiredo Art Gallery
1985 - São Paulo SP - Arte Novos Meios/Multimeios: Brasil 70/80, at MAB/FAAP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Six recorders, in Art Movimento
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcriar, at CCSP. Visual Arts Division
1985 - São Paulo SP - Transcreate, at MAC/USP
1986 - Italy - Red Project - Proggetto Rosso
1986 - Los Angeles (United States) - 1st los Angeles International Art Fair
1986 - São Paulo SP - Red Project-Proggetto Rosso, at MAB/FAAP
1986 - São Paulo SP - XX-XXI: a turn in the century, at the state gallery 1987 - California (United States) - Brazil, Small Formats, at Sonoma University Art Gallery
1987 - Los Angeles (United States) - 2nd Los Angeles International Art Fair
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1987 - São Paulo SP - Word Imágica, at MAC/USP
1987 - Washington (United States) - Brazil, Small Formats, at the Library of Congress
1988 - Campinas SP - 13th Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC - Acquisition Award
1988 - São Paulo SP - 1st National Watercolor Salon of FASM, at Faculdade Santa Marcelina
1988 - São Paulo SP - 63/66 Figure and object, at the Millan Gallery
1988 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon
1988 - São Paulo SP - Watercolor: Ink, brush, water, paper, in the Paço das Artes
1988 - São Paulo SP - Juréia, at Sadalla Galeria de Artes
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 years: Acquisitions and recent donations, MAC/USP 
1988 - São Paulo SP - Message to Mario Schenberg, at Funarte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Each head a sentence, at MASP
1989 - Judge From Fora MG - Each head a sentence, at the Mariano Procópio Museum
1990 - Belém PA - Aquarela Paulista, at the Elf Gallery
1990 - Curitiba PR - 9th Guest artists: lithographs, at Casa Romário Martins
1990 - Curitiba PR - 9th Engraving Exhibition City of Curitiba, at the Engraving Museum
1990 - Curitiba PR - Afterwatercolor: Contemporary Watercolor in São Paulo: Watercolor Language Studies Group, at the Municipal Museum of Art
1990 - Itu SP - After Watercolor: Contemporary Watercolor in São Paulo: Watercolor Language Studies Group, at the Almeida Júnior Cultural Space
1990 - Juiz de Fora MG - Olhar Van Gogh, at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Centro de Estudos Murilo Mendes
1990 - São Paulo SP - 21st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1990 - São Paulo SP - The presence of drawing, in the Paço das Artes
1990 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art, at MAC/USP
1990 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition of the São Paulo Association of Art Critics, at the Jockey Clube de São Paulo
1990 - São Paulo SP - Pantanal, at Sadalla Galeria de Art
1991 - Santos SP - 3rd Bienal Nacional de Santos, at the Patrícia Galvão Cultural Center
1991 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Watercolor, at Renato Magalhães Gouvêa Art Office
1991 - São Paulo SP - Artist Architects, at Masp
1991 - São Paulo SP - Seminal artists, at Casa das Rosas
1991 - São Paulo SP - Citizenship: 200 years of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, At Sesc Pompéia
1991 - São Paulo SP - Graphic Record: Original lithographs, at the Kramer Art Gallery
1991 - São Paulo SP - Records and impressions: seminal artists, at Casa das Rosas
1991 - São Paulo SP - Homage to Avenida Paulista, at Galeria Sesc Paulista - Best Event of the Year Award
1992 - Campinas SP - Awarded at the Salões de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas, at MacC
1992 - Curitiba PR - 10th Mostra da Engraving Cidade de Curitiba/Mostra América, at the Engraving Museum
1992 - Jundiaí SP - Salão de Arte de Jundiaí
1992 - Santo André SP - Lithogravure: Methods and Concepts, in the Paço Municipal
1992 - Santo André SP - Re Luz: Moments d'Aquarela, at Paço Municipal
1993 - Mococa SP - 10th Contemporary Art Salon of Mococa
1993 - São Paulo SP - 1st Salon Paulista de Aquarelas, at Faculdade Santa Marcelina - 1st Prize
1993 - São Paulo SP - Brazil: small formats, few words, at the Documenta Galeria de Arte
1993 - Washington (United States) - Brazil Small formats, at the Library of Congress Americana
1994 - Londrina PR - 3rd Week of Art of Londrina, at the Museum of Art of Londrina
1994 - Piracicaba SP - Brazilian Bienal de Arte Naif, at Sesc
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século 20th, at the Bienal Foundation
1994 - São Paulo SP - Os Bichos, at Galeria Paralelo 23
1994 - São Paulo SP - Unit and confrontation, at the Panamericana de Art
1995 - Santo André SP - 23rd Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André, at the Municipal Palace
1995 - São Bernardo do Campo SP - Books-objects, at Espaço Henfil de Cultura
1995 - São Paulo SP - A Grande Viagem, at the Government Palace
1995 - São Paulo SP - Watercolor, at Faculdade Santa Marcelina
1995 - São Paulo SP - Art for less, on the Contemporary Art Trail
1995 - São Paulo SP - from the European avant-gardes and Brazilian modernism to contemporary visuality, at MAC/USP
1995 - São Paulo SP - Arte Atual Brasil Project, at Renato Magalhães Gouvêa Art Office
1995 - São Paulo SP - Projeto Contacto, at the SESC Paulista gallery
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history at the MAC/USP collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Ex Libris/Home Page, at Paço das Artes
1998 - São Paulo SP - Figurations: 30 years in Brazilian art, at MAC/USP
1998 - São Paulo SP - Os Collectores - Guita and José Mindlin: matrices and engravings, at the Sesi Art Gallery
1999 - São Paulo SP - Lithography: Fidelity and Memory, at the Unicid Arts Space
1999 - São Paulo SP - Subterrâneos, Cultura Inglesa
1999 - São Paulo SP - Transparencies, at the Rosa Barbosa Art Office
2000 - Mexico City (Mexico) - 12th Iberoamerican Art Biennial, at the Palace of Bellas Artes de la Ciudad de Mexico
2000 - São Paulo SP - Pirelli Collection in the MAM collection: Brazilian art in the 60s, at MAM/SP
2000 - São Paulo SP - The role of art, in the SESI Art Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - New work, at MAC/USP
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Watercolor, at the Light Cultural Center
2001 - São Paulo SP - Arte Hoje, at Arvani Arte
2002 - São Paulo SP - Who makes the biennials, at the Multiple Art Gallery
Posthumous exhibitions
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: a controversial relationship, at Itaú Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - The subversion of media, at Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - The price of seduction: from corset to silicone, at Itaú Cultural
Source: Itaú Cultural
