It is an artistic promenade in the dream, in the essence of life, in mystery and innocence the first European solo exhibition of Tarcísio Veloso, a self-taught Brazilian talented painter born in 1991 proposed by the Atipografia gallery in Arzignano, twenty-five thousand souls on the outskirts of Vicenza. Olhares (Looks) is the common thread of the thirteen oils on canvas (all dating back to the end of 2023 and the current year) exhibited in the beautiful post-industrial setting of the printing house, in recent years transformed into a welcoming contemporary art gallery with the possibility of artist residency. Elena Dal Molin who, together with Alessandra Maria Venditti, talent scout of new artistic generations in Brazil, is the curator of the exhibition, tells us that «I chose Tarcísio Veloso because I was convinced by his classical figuration well linked to contemporaneity. Tarcisio convinced us thanks to these glances and their ability to scrutinize the observer, almost reversing the fruition between the figurative subject and the art enthusiast who stands before him».

Tarcísio Veloso, “Uma Deusa Bruxa Fada”, 2024, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm; “Viado”, 2024, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, photo courtesy Alberto Sinigaglia

In fact, the first large canvas, Uma Deusa Bruxa Fada (A Witch Fairy Goddess) already presents us with numerous elements of Tarcísio Veloso’s artistic poetics. Coming from the Bahian strip of the Great Sertão dear to the great writer João Guimarães Rosa, that is, the northeastern regions oscillating between plateaus rich in meandering rivers and arid expanses, the artist has lived a large part of his life in large metropolitan cities, but has never abandoned the atmosphere of his hometown Correntina. His human figures are statuesque, impassive, chromatic and have a peremptory gaze and a goddess with profoundly human features, a witch and a fairy recall the mystery and daily syncretism of a marginal region of the vast Brazil. The canvas cited is one of the few of large dimensions (equal to or greater than a meter on each side). There are two others, Viado (Fawn, but also a Brazilian way of derogatorily defining male homosexuals) which depicts a figure half boy and half fawn in the act of defending himself from social vulgarity, and Pedido ás Estrelas (Request for the Stars), an enormous bow symbolising what can be built and at the same time undone in order to then rebuild and undo again.

Tarcísio Veloso, “Inocente?”, 2024, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm; “Mediadores”, 2023, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm, photo courtesy Alberto Sinigaglia

Ten are the smaller portraits, in which Veloso’s talent and creativity are much more effective. The artist shows that he has drawn inspiration from the great Italian portrait school from the sixteenth century, recalling in his canvases dynamic baroque tones, very bright colors that make the figures at ease in the light frontal shadow. The often present figure of the boy and the girl are symbols of innocence, but also of a certain human restlessness. A clear example of this is Inocente? (Innocent?) which, in addition to the significant question mark placed after the adjective, places us in front of strong doubts about the real innocence of the figure, given that the head and jaws of a wolf emerge next to it. The message of Mediadores (Mediators) is powerful, in which a pair of children observe us with an already adult and aware gaze, in an embryonic and then perennial contrast between good and evil that will characterize their entire existence. The gazes of the figures on canvas are reflections of the deep self, they hide or refer us to ancestral elements that blend mystery and life, well proposed to us observers by Veloso’s technique. This is the case of O Bilhete (The note), perhaps the most interesting and engaging canvas of the exhibition. The black human figure dressed in yellow is reversed in the guise of a prince who holds a flower and a piece of paper: the most powerful visual element is the second flesh-colored garment that makes the figure apparently also covered in white skin. The man’s gaze is crucial to make us understand centuries of colonial exploitation, an atavistic pain of submission to the tragedy inflicted by us Europeans.

Tarcísio Veloso, “O Diabo é Europeu?”, 2024, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm; “Piabinha”, 2024, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, photo courtesy Alberto Sinigaglia

In fact, the Devil is European and Veloso depicts him (O Diabo è Europeu) with Aryan features and an intensely red imperial court robe. The disorientation of the observer increases in this case even more in intensity and the atmosphere emanating from the portrait is particularly uncomfortable for an observer attentive to History (with a capital H). «If there is a dimension that constantly accompanies my daily life, this dimension is the dream», Veloso tells us, accompanying the words with facial expressions and body gestures of absolute involvement. And Voo noturno (Night Flight) well summarizes the profoundly human desire, but far from our earthly nature, to rise above the ground and see the shadow projected on the horizon. The figure in the act of rising has a sensuality that recalls that of Saint Sebastian, time is suspended, magic and mystery blend with the powerful corporeality of man. Sensuality also returns in Piabinha (Little Piaba), the call of a fish typical of the rivers and native places of Veloso, which in the upper part takes on, like a mermaid, the body of another figure with powerful sensuality. A ball, perfectly spherical, represents a metaphysical element that adds further doses of mystery to a scene apparently full of pure innocence. It is the gaze of a mythological figure that questions us on the meaning of existence.

Info:

Tarcisio Veloso: Olhares
04/10/2024 – 25/01/2025
Atipografia
Piazza Campo Marzio, 26 – Arzignano (VI)
www.atipografia.it

Giovanni Crotti

I am Giovanni Crotti and I was born in June 1968 in Reggio Calabria to be reborn in June 2014 in Piacenza, the city where I live. My income is guaranteed by digital consultancy, and I then spend it largely on art and letterature: I have been and am a content curator and organizer of cultural events for artists, galleries and institutional spaces, as well as a writer of exhibition reviews, creatives of every era and books.