The exhibition Samico Between Worlds [Rumors of War in Times of Peace] presents to the public in New York fourteen wood engravings produced by artist Gilvan Samico (1928 – 2013) between 1997 and 2010. Curated by Marcio Harum, the exhibition will be on display in the Lower East Side from February 4 to March 5.
The exhibition introduces the American audience to one of the most important Latin American artists, whose career includes 300 exhibitions in 30 different countries, awards at the Venice Biennale, and works acquired by MoMA.
Born in Recife, located in the northeastern region of Brazil, Samico and his works were “rediscovered” after his death in 2013. With several solo and group exhibitions in Brazil, his wood engravings have been highlighted in the most recent biennials held in the country. His work stands out and differs from his contemporaries due to its universal language. Drawing from legends and myths, he reinvents the folk art of his homeland by adding elements and themes from many other cultures. Samico achieved, according to himself and art critics, what Jung called the “Collective Unconscious,” a kind of common knowledge of legends, images, and symbols from different cultures shared among human beings.
“Some people ask me about my fascination with Egyptian art because they see Egyptian influences in my engravings. I have nothing to say [in response], unless it is part of my experience in the collective unconscious. I don’t know. It’s as if these old stories keep repeating in [our] genes until they reach me. A certain critic once said that my wood engravings are imbued with these essential symbols of popular culture. I think he is right.” – Samico quoted by Tânia Nogueira in the book Mythology and Cordel.
Considered one of the icons of the Armorial Movement, an artistic movement that sought to create a Brazilian art rooted in the indigenous, African, and European elements that form the basis of its local culture, Samico adopted a more authorial interpretation of his universe in his most recent works, which will be presented in Samico Between Worlds [Rumors of War in Times of Peace].
The curator Marcio Harum, who is leading the curation of the Centro Cultural São Paulo, one of the most important contemporary art institutions in Brazil, included scheduled tarot reading sessions in the exhibition program as a way to highlight the recurring identification of Samico’s work with the aesthetics of tarot cards and connect it to the practice of the artist’s widow, Célida Samico, who is a dancer, yoga teacher, and tarot reader.
For more information, visit: www.dreambox.nyc/samicobetweenworlds and www.samico.art.br