Chico Tabibuia [ Francisco Moraes da Silva ]
1936, Casimiro de Abreu | RJ - Brazil | 2007, Casimiro de Abreu | RJ - Brazil
Francisco Moraes da Silva, known as Chico Tabibuia, was born in 1936 in Casimiro de Abreu, RJ, where he lived until his passing in 2007. His life story is deeply connected to wood and marked by the unique character of his sculptural work. At 22, he began working as a lumberjack along the São João River, cutting tabebuia and jenipapo trees to support his family. The tabebuia tree, which grows exclusively in swamps, became a constant in his life and the primary material of his art. This dense, resilient wood symbolized for Chico the strength and endurance he found in his own journey.
It was only at 40 that Chico Tabibuia returned to sculpture, an activity he had explored as a teenager and that would, from then on, become his main form of expression. His sculptures are infused with elements of magic and eroticism, themes that interlace in his work with a unique sense of dignity and symbolic depth. These two aspects harken back to ancient fertility rites, where art and sensuality intertwine as expressions of the unconscious. Geza Roheim, in Magie et Schizophrénie, emphasized that the phallus, symbolized by the erect penis, represents creative energy with “the power to heal and fertilize.” This archetype is evident in Chico’s sculptures, which explore both eroticism and spirituality.
Chico Tabibuia’s sculptures transcend the material; he transforms the tabebuia wood into true entities: some resemble phallic deities, symbols of vital, creative energy; others evoke the image of “great mothers,” expressing a profound connection to ancestry and the sacred. His creations reflect a magical stance, engaging with the unconscious roots of humanity and connecting the viewer to something primitive and timeless, as noted by Nise da Silveira in Images of the Unconscious.
Throughout his life, Chico established himself as one of the great names in Brazilian folk art. In each carving and form, he preserved the symbolic power and vitality of the wood, transforming it into a bearer of stories, myths, and desires that transcend time.
Individual Exhibitions:
2019 Chico Tabibuia, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1996 Chico Tabibuia, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1989 Chico Tabibuia, MHN - Museu Histórico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
Collective Exhibitions:
2024 Essay on Earth, Galeria Simões de Assis, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2023 "Reverses and Transverses": Artists Outside the Mainstream (and Friends) at the Biennials, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2023 Navegar é Preciso – paisagens fluminenses, Casa França Brasil, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2021-2022 Memory is an invention, MAM/RJ - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2021 Earth and Temperature, Almeida e Dale, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2020 Between Fragments and Cracks, Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niteroi - RJ, Brazil
2019 Folk Art – no museum less, Escola de Arte Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2019 Unforeseen Dialogues, Galeria Passado Composto, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2017 Stories of Sexuality, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2016 “Orixás”, Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2013 Our Imaginary, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2012 Janete Costa "A Look", Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niterói - RJ, Brazil
2011 Where are we Africa? Caixa Cultural Sé, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2010 Brazilian Art: Beyond the System, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2007 Live Culture Live the Brazilian People, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2007 The size of Brazil - Popular Art Exhibition, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2006 Replica and Rebellion, MAM/BA - Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador - BA, Brazil
2006 Replica and Rebellion, MAM/RJ - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2006 Replica and Rebellion, Centro Cultural Português, Luanda, Angola
2006 Replica and Rebellion, Museu Nacional de Arte de Maputo, Maputo, Mozambique
2005 Our Pleasure, Galeria Brasiliana, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Rediscovery Exhibition, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Brazil: Psychoanalysis and Modernism, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Art and Eroticism, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Here Between Us, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1998 Frontiers, Utopian Dimensions, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1987 Brazil’s Folk, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Selected Publications:
2019 Chico Tabibuia, Vilma Eid and Thais Rivitti, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2018 Brazilian Popular Art: contemporary views, Vilma Eid and Germana Monte-Mór, WMF Martins Fontes Publisher, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2012 Janete Costa "The Gaze", Mário Santos, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2010 Brazilian Art: Beyond Sistem, Galeria Estação, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2007 Viva Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil
2007 The size of Brazil - Popular art show, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2000 Mostra do Redescobrimento, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Associação Brasil 500 Anos, São Paulo, SP, Brasil
1989 The magical erotic sculpture by Chico Tabibuia, Paulo Pardal, UERJ ERCA, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
