Nino [João Cosmo Felix]
1920 - 2002, Juazeiro do Norte | CE - Brazil
He cut sugarcane and worked as a blacksmith before turning to carving wood. He began his art by making toys. He was illiterate, lived in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, with his wife, Perpétua Cecília da Conceição, until his death. His work is found in major public and private collections in Brazil and abroad. In 1974 he made wooden animals amazingly painted brown with specks of black and white and the size never usually exceeded 70 cm. The tails, made from umburana or alumbark, were added to the carved creatures. In the 1980s, Nino gave a leap to larger sculptures, which might go beyond one meter high. In the single block of wood, Nino now skillfully included a new color invention. Birds, elephants, oxen, monkeys, rituals, such as weddings, and epiphany festivals are carved in relief at the top of the original block, which was painted in certain colors – pink, blue, red, green, yellow -, tempered and dosed by Nino, form an extraordinary gallery of single blocks from the backlands. Here, the force of the symbolic is equal to the skill of the eye and hand, masts from the dream where nature and culture combine in a unique meeting, on a level with the best contemporary creation of the 20th century. He has held an individual exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. His work was a highlight of the international exhibition Brésil, Arts Populaires (Grand Palais, Paris, 1987), and in the Rediscovery Exhinition (São Paulo Biennial Foundation, 2000). His works are found in the top Brazilian museums of popular art.
Source: Little Dictionary of the Brazilian People’s Art – 20th Century, by anthropologist and poet Lélia Coelho Frota
Individual Exhibitions:
2016 Nino, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2002 Nino: The Essential in Its Raw State, MCC - Memorial da Cultura Cearense, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil
2001 Nino: The Essential in Its Raw State, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Collective Exhibitions:
2025 In every corner: Casa Fiat de Cultura and Instituto Tomie Ohtake visit Vilma Eid Collection, Casa Fiat de Cultura, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil
2025 Instituto Tomie Ohtake visits Vilma Eid Collection - In every where, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Metamorphoses and Distances, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2023 “Reverses and Transverses: artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials”, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2021 They Were Already Here, Galeria Base, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2021 Baião de Dois - Dialogue between artists, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2020 Que Mestre é Esse?, CRAB - Centro Sebrae de Referência do Artesanato Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2019 Exposición Lina Bo Bardi Tupí or not tupí ?, Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Spain
2016 Entreolhares: poéticas d’alma brasileira, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brasil
2014 Almost a figure, almost a shape, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2012 Histoires de Voir - Show and Tell, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
2012 Janete Costa “The gaze”, Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niterói - RJ, Brazil
2012 4 Outsider artists, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2011 O Brasil na Arte Popular - Acervo Museu Casa do Pontal, Brasília - DF, Brazil
2008-2009 Exposição Imaginário do Povo Brasileiro, Restaurante Antiquarius, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2007 Do tamanho do Brasil - Mostra de Arte Popular, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2006-2007 Viva Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2006 SOMOS - a criação popular brasileira, Centro Cultural Santander, Porto Alegre - RS, Brazil
2006 Brasil Imaginário, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2004-2005 Forma, Cor e Expressão: uma coleção de arte brasileira, Galeria Estação - São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2004 Bienal Naifs do Brasil, Sesc, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Mostra do Redescobrimento: arte popular, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2002 Pop Brasil: a arte popular e o popular na arte, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2001 Expressão Popular, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
1998 Jangrada, Museu Histórico do Ceará, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil
1995-1996 Os Herdeiros da Noite: fragmentos do imaginário negro, Centro Cultural de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil
1994-1995 Os Herdeiros da Noite: fragmentos do imaginário negro, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1994 Os Herdeiros da Noite: fragmentos do imaginário, Espaço Cultural SOS Sul, Curitiba - PR, Brazil
1992 Brasilien: Entdeckung und Selbstentdeckung, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
1992 Viva o Povo Brasileiro | Artesanato e arte popular, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
Public Collections:
Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Selected Publications:
2024 Metamorphoses and Distances, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2023 “Reverses and Transverses: artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials”, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2018 Arte Popular Brasileira: olhares contemporâneos, Vilma Eid e Germana Monte-Mór, Editora WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2016 NINO, Vilma Eid e André Parente, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2014 Almost a figure, almost a shape, Vilma Eid, Socorro de Andrade Lima e Lorenzo Mammì, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2012 Histoires de Voir - Show and Tell, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Editoriale Bortolazzi-Stei, Paris, France
2012 Janete Costa “The Gaze”, Mario Santos Lis Gráfica, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2007 Do tamanho do Brasil - Mostra de arte popular, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2006 Viva Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2004 Bienal Naifs do Brasil, Sesc SP, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Mostra do Redescobremento: arte popular, organizador Nelson Aguiar, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2001 Nino | o essencial em estado bruto, Emanoel Araujo, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1995 Os Herdeiros da Noite, Centro de cultura de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil
1992 Catalogo Viva o Povo Brasileiro | Artesanato e arte popular, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
1980 O Reinado da lua- escultores populares do Nordeste, editora Salamandra, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
