Interview

Interview with the artist -What is art for you? “First, there is a real art, this art is God’s, the supreme architect. He created everything and he is everywhere. And there is human’s art. It is divided in three main aspects, science, art and religion. We cannot live without this reality. Human making is beneath everything God has created. Through intelligence, men can capture the sensitive things through colors and shapes. If men’s art has a meaning, it is to touch people.” -Where are you from? “I am from Urandi, Bahia. I am every race! When I was six, I came to São Paulo with my mother and I was a resident student. Although my parents are alive, I feel like an orphan. I feel like a foreigner in my own country. I don’t like to talk about it. I am sorry.” -Did you study art? “When I was a resident student, I studied notch with professor Lima, who was Cipicchia’s student. He brought notch to São Paulo. From 1949 to 1952 I studied art at “Ramos de Azevedo” school, at Liceu de Artes, in São Paulo and in this course I learnt painting, modeling, sculpture. My teachers were Galileu Emendadili and Vicente Larocca. And I learnt the rock technique when Catedral de São Paulo was built”. -What is your style? “I am a contemporary artist. I know how to use materials such as Italian, Greek and Portuguese marble. I live in Brazil, so I use materials from here. We have fantastic rocks that I use in my works, that are signed, numbered and registered. I have been honestly doing my 57 years.” -What were your influences? “Emendabili told me at Liceu: ‘when you do your work, you your time’s work’. Well, to me it was difficult, because I came from an academic school. After that, I went through a research process. I researched Antiquity, Greek artists, African, Colombian arts, Brazilian Indians. I liked seeing master Vitalino. I have to mention master Aleijadinho. There are Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Cellini, Vasari, Giovanni Bologna, Bernini, Falconet, Canova, Schadow. In XIX and XX centuries, there are Rodin, Brancusi, Jean Arp, Bárbara Hepwordth, Matisse, Maillol, Wotruba, Henry Moore. I am passioned by all of them and I can say that all of them can influenced me somehow. This research was necessary for me to find myself as an artist, because I can’t do anything else.” -How do you make your works? “I like to research and observe everything. Rocks, animals, people. My work comes from these elements.” -Why don’t you make an individual exhibition? “I was a part of every group exhibition. It’s not that I don’t want to make an individual one. I lost an opportunity because of works abroad. But I still have time. I don’t live for art, I live from art. So, I have already started to collect works for a future exhibition.” -What do you think about Brazilian art critics? “Brazilian critics related to Brazilian arts is sweet, but it is related to current reality. I have nothing to complain about critics. A critic is a critic, an artist is an artist.” This interview was made by an art collector, who asked me not to write his name on the website.