Henrique Oliveira

About two years ago I had the privilege to view a great show at the CCBB in Rio called Nova Arte Nova (New Art New). I remember being extremely bummed that I wasn't going to be able to make to São Paulo for their annual Biennial and had made it a point to go there during my time in Brazil. Plans fell through and I ended up not traveling out of Rio but towards the end of my stay I had the opportunity to check out this show which was just as good as the biennial if not better. The exhibition featured a collection of emerging artists from Brazil. There were a few artists that really caught my eye and most were because of their choice of materials or technique.

Then today, I happened to spend the afternoon in the MICA library in one of my favorite activities..I sat for about an hour or so looking through the Sculpture magazines from the past 6 months or so..reading articles and learning about some new artists. One artist that I happened to stumble upon was about the Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira. I was blown away by some of the pieces that were included in the article and even more surprised to learn he was Brazilian and recently showed some work at Fun Arte in Rio! Then when I was home this evening reading up on his work..I realized that I saw one of his pieces at this CCBB show in 2008. The work was done in wood but incorporated other materials that changed the pieces significantly. I am more drawn to these newer pieces that are full installations. I especially love how he found his material to work with and how his background was originally painting and wanted to find away to interpret painting into three dimensional forms. Watch the video below! He talks a little bit about his process.









Other articles

Old work. Rediscovered.

So..Lately I've been thinking about how to make this blog more unique to my interests and am thinking about focusing the next several entries around the art I saw and experience while in Rio as well as some additional research I have done since I returned. There are a lot of really good blogs out there that focus on Brazil and more specifically Rio. My favorites are listed on the left side of the page so be sure to check them out because they are all really interesting in different ways.

While I am gathering and compiling the next entry..Here is an image that I thought would be worth sharing.



When I was about 13 years old my cousin Nalita and her son Nelson moved to Westerville, Ohio from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was a new exciting addition to the family that we already had in Westerville. When I was in high school I did a painting from a photograph I found in an old National Geographic Magazine of Copacabana Beach not really knowing much about Brazil at that time. Little did I know, 8 years later I would see it in person. I guess I was probably 15 or 16 years old when I painted this.

In addition I wanted to mention how much I think this trip has helped me learn more about my family in Rio and also become closer with Nelson and Nalita. I am fortunate to have such a loving and welcoming family. Since Nanny and Poppy's passing I think my parents, sister and I have been trying to build new traditions and hold onto the family we have left as well as work towards getting to know some relatives better. We started some new traditions this past holiday and it turned out to be really great. I am sure Nanny and Poppy were really happy to see us all together.