José Rufino
José Rufino developed his art journey moving from poetry to visual-poetry and then to mail-art and drawings, in the 1980s. The decline of Brazilian sugar-cane plantations was the inspiration of his early works which included drawings on envelopes and letters as well as installations with furniture and documents. Son of political activists arrested during the Brazilian dictatorial military regime in the 1960s, the artist is also well known for his political works, like the large installation Plasmatio, first exhibited in the XXV São Paulo International Biennial in 2000. The installation was composed of furniture and large ink blots, like Hermann Rorschach psycho-diagnostic plates, on original letters and documents belonging to Brazilian political missing people. The dichotomous dialogue between memory and forgetfulness is a major theme of his practice, as evident in his complex installation Lethe (2006), a big “detrital river flood deposit” of “exhumed” tables, desks and chairs with roots.
He has had solo exhibitions at Recife’s Museum of Modern Art, Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba, Brazil, and Niteroi’s Museum of Contemporary Art in Brazil. His work has also been exhibited at Milão Gallery in São Paulo, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and Acclamation Palace in Salvador, among …
José Rufino developed his art journey moving from poetry to visual-poetry and then to mail-art and drawings, in the 1980s. The decline of Brazilian sugar-cane plantations was the inspiration of his early works which included drawings on envelopes and letters as well as installations with furniture and documents. Son of political activists arrested during the Brazilian dictatorial military regime in the 1960s, the artist is also well known for his political works, like the large installation Plasmatio, first exhibited in the XXV São Paulo International Biennial in 2000. The installation was composed of furniture and large ink blots, like Hermann Rorschach psycho-diagnostic plates, on original letters and documents belonging to Brazilian political missing people. The dichotomous dialogue between memory and forgetfulness is a major theme of his practice, as evident in his complex installation Lethe (2006), a big “detrital river flood deposit” of “exhumed” tables, desks and chairs with roots.
He has had solo exhibitions at Recife’s Museum of Modern Art, Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba, Brazil, and Niteroi’s Museum of Contemporary Art in Brazil. His work has also been exhibited at Milão Gallery in São Paulo, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and Acclamation Palace in Salvador, among other venues.
Courtesy of Carbono Galeria
