Véio
Since 2009, when Galeria Estação held the first exhibition of this sculptor from Sergipe, curated by Paulo Monteiro, we have only experienced rewarding moments in the career of Cícero Alves dos Santos - Véio.
Paris, London, Venice, Rio de Janeiro were some cities where we have been with him in unforgettable exhibitions.
From 2009 to 2017 - you must think that success came very fast but it is not true. Véio was born talented, as a boy he began to carve and as a young man he already considered himself to be an artist. Not for vanity, but for knowing exactly what he was worth.
I am proud to say that when I first visited him he was ready. If I have any merit that was to see it in him.
After Paulo Monteiro, there were international curators who "saw" his work, and also to mention the beloved Rodrigo Naves, who curated his second exhibition at Galeria Estação. On that same date we released a book edited by Martins Fontes with Rodrigo's authorship.
Do you want to know more?
Ronaldo Brito in Rio de Janeiro certainly drew attention to Véio’s first solo exhibition in the “Wonderful City”, which happened just recently at Gustavo Rebello Arte.
The exhibition that we are opening at Estação is an extension of that of Rio, and Ronaldo Brito also curates it. It is an opportunity to once again show the sculptor who has just been awarded with the Itaú Cultural 30 Year Award - CREATE Category
Opening ceremony and chat with two masters in the fields of art critics and art history: Rodrigo Naves and Ronaldo Brito. Not to be missed!!!
Thank you all, to collectors, artists, institutions and, mainly, to the public of Galeria Estação, which honors us and believes in our work.

Vilma Eid

Véio | Suddenly into the World Curated by Ronaldo Brito 10th June 11:00am - Opening 12:00am - Talk with the exhibit curator Ronaldo Brito and the art critic Rodrigo Naves Runs through 05th August Galeria Estação

Suddenly into the World
What is striking is the free and frank way this imaginary fauna reaches the real. Almost always in motion, more or less as a beast comes out of the bush and suddenly appears before us. And it is not a represented movement – its own formalization is that it is busy, fast and succinct, the sculpture presents itself and interrogates us. It thus translates the modern ideal of self-sufficiency of form: it sustains its aesthetic surprise as if it wanted to appear, again and again, for the first time. I do not know, sincerely, if Véio knows Picasso and Miró. In any case, they know him, they surround his imaginary, they participate in his production process.

Given their deformity, many of these figures deserve to be included in the category of the Grotesque. They might even respond to André Breton’s celebrated surreal appeal: “Beauty will be convulsive or it will not be”. However, the fun economy of means, the spontaneity with which they come to be, a certain relaxed tone of life perhaps make them more comfortable under the heading of the Picturesque. In my eyes, at least, they do not look at all scary. Strangely familiar, they would surely have something oneiric, nevertheless never evoke the terror of the nightmare. But the main thing, what really matters is his poetic modus operandi. Notice the resourcefulness with which they match up ways and means – whatever their original enigma, its intriguing appearance, the contortions of wood never lose sight of the basic sculptural demand: the piece must stand on its own. These unlikely animals begin by facing the test of elementary reality: to exist on their own, to exercise their freedom of action.
Contrary to the canon of the so-called Brazilian Popular Art (besides, in the modest understanding of the outsider in this field, a decrepit essentialist classification), Véio’s sculptures are anything but hieratic. They do not emerge, static and ecstatic, from the depths of time, to preserve traditions and experiences swept away by the predatory action of modernity. Neither do they obey the ineradicable religiosity of a humble statuary that is usually graced – and thus aesthetically sublimated – with the aura of pure humanity. In comparison, by its casual mobility, the sculpture of Véio is decidedly profane. No one will dare to contest his mythical extraction. This is said above all by its formal findings, indissociable, of course, from its content of historical and existential truth. It attracts us just because of its contemporaneity, because it pulsates in a current imaginative life.
Immediately, without preamble, we find ourselves with a combinatory verve capable of articulating, disarticulate and rearticulate its plastic elements in a coherent and inventive way. That said, Véio would demonstrate, above all, expedient. He is the agile repentista, to improvise with the native woods of his wild habitat, accompanying or against the rhymes of its morphology, and of them take unexpected effects. Some pieces seem almost ready-made in the sertão – two or three inspired maneuvers are enough for the artist to turn the dry branches of a dead tree into a slight sculpture.
No critical text, however short and unpretentious, would be pardonable to be silent in the face of the small scandal that represents the color in the sculpture of Véio. And not only because they show open colors, without nuances or shades, extroverted and vibrant, able to compete with the brutal light of the sertão. Even his black seems susceptible to glow in the dark. The important thing is that they act substantively in the definition of the body of the sculpture, characterizing its personality. Intuitively, Véio would make a topological use of color. They promote the interaction between the parts of the pieces so as to make them a modern discontinuous Whole. The sculptures are not limited to simple figures projected against a neutral background. They react to their surroundings, they happen in the world.

Ronaldo Brito
Rio de Janeiro, March 2017

Galeria Estação
Presents
Véio – Suddenly into the world
Opening: June 10 at 11:00am
Exhibition until August 5, 2017

In 2014 Galeria Estação celebrated its 10th anniversary with an exhibition and publication dedicated to Cícero Alves dos Santos, Véio (1948, Nossa Sra. Da Gloria - SE). Nothing could be more representative: since its inauguration 12 years ago, the gallery has been working to dilute the frontier that separated non-erudite artists from the circuit of contemporary Brazilian art.
Véio's work is a significant result of this process, which culminated in a large solo exhibition of the artist in Venice, in a parallel show to the 55th Biennale. The sculptor had conquered the Cartier Foundation in Paris, where he participated in the exhibition commemorating the 30th anniversary of the French institution, along with other contemporary Brazilians such as Adriana Varejão and Beatriz Milhazes.
Now, under the curatorship of Ronaldo Brito, Galeria Estação brings Véio - De Surpresa no Mundo, a title coined by the critic in his text designed for the exhibition, which was already presented in April in Rio de Janeiro, through a partnership between Galeria Estação and Rio de Janeiro born gallery owner Gustavo Rebello.
For Brito, Véio's work translates the modern ideal of self-sufficiency of form: "it sustains its aesthetic surprise as if it wanted to appear, again and always, for the first time." He also points out that, due to the deformed aspect of the work, many of these figures deserved to be included in the category of the Grotesque. However, due to the fun economy of means, the spontaneity with which they come to be and a certain relaxed tone of life, he prefers the heading of the Picturesque.
The 11 sculptures assembled in the show, as trunks, branches and roots already have their own presence, and Véio only intervenes punctually, sculpting or painting, to make the figures and forms that glimpses in those natural elements more explicit. As Brito points out, colors are fundamental in the artist's work. "And not only because they are open, without nuances, extroverted and vibrant, capable of competing with the brutal light of the hinterlands, but also because they endorse in a substantive way the definition of the body of the sculpture, characterizing its personality." For the critic, the colors further promote the interaction between parts of the pieces so as to make them a modern discontinuous whole. "The sculptures are not just simple figures projected against a neutral background. They react to their surroundings, they happen in the world. "
Like many of his compatriots, the sculptor received his name in honor of Father Cicero. The nickname arose because he was very fond of listening to the conversations of older people. Self-taught, Véio admired popular culture as a child when he began to create his first pieces in beeswax. The intense relationship with his environment made the artist create, next to his studio in the hinterland of the state of Sergipe, a "Museu do Sertão" (Museum of the Hinterlands). Many of the objects collected in the museum bear witness to the man's encounter with nature. They are leather hats, household utensils, rustic machines, clothes and accessories that are part of the hinterland born man’s life.

Exhibition: Véio - Of Surprise in the World
Opening: June 10 at 11:00am
From June 11 to August 5, 2017
Monday to Friday, from 11am to 7pm
Saturdays from 11am to 3pm
Free admission.

Galeria Estação
Rua Ferreira de Araújo, 625 – Pinheiros SP
Phone: 11.3813-7253

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