matiasromero

"A painter is like a book that never ends." Fernando Diniz

An art gallery that could show work in progress from psychiatric patients, from darkness to light (and sometimes  even back into darkness again). Museu De Imagens Do Inconsciente. Sorry fellows, only Portuguese most or all the way, only hope you can lay your eyes on the pictures, especially the pictures painted by Fernando Diniz, their featured artist of the moment at the virtual exhibition O Universo de Fernando Diniz.

Marlui Miranda: Kewere: IHU 2.

December of 1997: Marlui's new CD is  called 2 Ihu Kewere: Rezar. It's a Mass  that celebrates the 400th anniversary  of the death of José de Anchieta. This  is also a Blue Jackel release. Marlui  is now immersed in her next project:  ten more CDs! The next is a ballet, to  be performed by Ballet Stagium from São  Paulo, with sets by Japanese-Brazilian  artist Tomie Ohtake (isn't Brazil the  most amazing melting pot?). We'll keep  you posted!



Arara - Marlui, we don't know where you  come from...



Marlui - The Amazon, but I live in São  Paulo, I really never lived in the  Amazon, I just go there very often...I  just got back from a trip to an Indian  village in the state of Rondônia...I  have a lot of friends in Rondônia, so I  go there very often...My family started  in the sixteenth century, with a Jesuit  and an Indian woman, in the state of  Pará...



Arara - And this Indian music  thing...did that come from your  childhood, from hearing Indian songs?



Marlui - No, it happened after I grew  up, I worked with music, I listened to  some songs...and this thing, when it  happened, I was in my 20's, and it all  presented itself to me, ready...



Arara - Do you spend much time in these  villages, to do your research?



Marlui - No, at the most two months,  longer than that, we start to bother  people...



Arara - And how often do you go?



Marlui - It depends, this last trip for  instance, I should have gone earlier  this year...but they asked me to  postpone it...because of  problems......the boat breaks...the  river is too dry...things like that  happen and you cannot really plan  it...you go when all things come  together and it works out to go...it's  very difficult to get to these  places...there are practically no  roads...to one of these villages, it  took us a day and a half to get there,  from this town where we were...and we  were very lucky this time...sometimes  it rains and we get stuck in the mud  and we have to walk...sixty  kilometers...



Arara - So, it's not an easy thing,  this work of yours...



Marlui - No...(laugh)...the Indians  here (in the US) have no idea...there  are Indians in Brazil that live in the  Stone Age...and the other thing people  don't realize is that the access to  these areas is restricted...we need  permission to enter the Indian  areas...from the FUNAI or even from the  chief of the tribe we want to  visit...Indians in the US are three,  four centuries ahead of Indians in  Brazil...the distance is huge..it's a  matter of centuries...



Arara - How do you communicate with the  Indians?



Marlui - These places where I go,  there's no problem, because they speak  Portuguese...and we learn the basics of  their language, there...and we use a  word here and there...but in reality,  we don't need to speak it, because most  people speak Portuguese...they have a  life, connections, outside the village,  so everyone ends up learning  Portuguese...these groups I visit are  not isolated, they can't be, they're  surrounded by colonists...and, in the  case of the Tuparis, they used to be  enslaved by white rubber tappers...



Arara - But that has changed...



Marlui - Oh, yes, now they own the  land...They worked with IAMA - an  environmental and anthropological  institute - that helped them with the  legal aspects of land demarcation...of  their reservation...but this is only in  Rondônia...everywhere it's  different...it's a very complex  situation even in Rondônia...but the  Indians did it with their help...they  went to Brasília...people have no  idea...it's the wild West, a frontier  land, this area of Brazil...



Arara - And what do they live of?



Marlui - Brazil nuts...IAMA...they have  a project in conjunction with Unesco  and the World Bank...there's a new  project of economic alternatives for  the Indian communities of Rondônia...to  harvest Brazil nuts, to make farinha de  mandioca (manioc meal), to collect  copaíba oil, things that are viable,  that they know how to  do...urucum...their handicrafts, which  are marvellous..



Arara - I imagine that way they will be  able to stay in their land...



Marlui - Yes, so they don't have to  emigrate...no one goes hungry...there's  a lot of land and the land is very  rich...the whole area is  beautiful...it's huge...all the  reservations in Rondônia are official  and legal, there are no problems  there...there's plenty of  food...there's very little malaria  where I go...and TB...there are other  areas where there's a lot of TB...but  there no...and the population is  growing...



Arara - I read somewhere that the  Indian population is growing all over  Brazil...



Marlui - Yes, that's true. They're  maintaining their traditions, passing  them on to the younger generations,  there are projects to educate the  younger generations...the majority of  the Indian tribes take care of  themselves...they're trying to build a  viable relationship with the world of  the whites...the only negative thing is  the way the whites relate to the  Indians...the Indians are trying to  understand how the outside world  works...it's very difficult, because  they have such a different way of  thinking...



Arara - And what's the role of the  FUNAI (the official Brazilian  organization)?



Marlui - They give them basic  assistance...a pharmacy, for  example...FUNAI sometimes works,  sometimes doesn't...but you can't leave  the Indians without any  assistance...you open a door for other  organizations, like churches, to come  in and brainwash the Indians...they do  some good, but come in and convert them  to their god...for instance, someone I  know, a pajé (shaman), is a converted  Baptist...he lost his expression...he  doesn't value his own mythology, his  own Word, because the Bible...well,  it's written, you see, and all they  have is an oral tradition...it's very  sad...it's the pits!



Arara - When you're in São Paulo, do  you teach or lecture?



Marlui - No, I don't have much  opportunity to do that. Sometimes,  people ask me to, but I can't, because  everything is so difficult in Brazil,  my work takes a lot of time...and also,  people only remember when it's Indian  Week...then I have lots of  invitations...but the rest of the  year...the Indians don't exist...so, if  you want to do a show in  December...forget it...nobody wants to  do it...(laugh)...so my work, it's very  difficult, extremely difficult...



Arara - And that's all you do?



Marlui - Yes, that's all I do...so I  survive with grants (Marlui won a  Guggenheim Fellowship)...but, there are  times when things are difficult...I'm  creating a market that never existed  before...



Arara - This American tour, Marlui, are  you going to do it again?



Marlui - Yes...I'm just getting  organized to start touring...I could  come and visit the universities, but I  haven't had a chance to do that  yet...I'm getting ready to do something  very professional...We're trying to  organize a tour with a large group of  singers and musicians for May of  97...This show is very beautiful, and  something different to come out of  Brazil...nobody has seen that outside  of Brazil...



Arara - I read something Gilberto Gil  said about the Indian influence on  Brazilian music...



Marlui - There's  none...nothing...Brazilian Indian music  is a cultural secret...nobody knows  it...It's so specific, so dependent on  certain creative factors, themes. vocal  expression...</b>



Arara - Not even an instrument, a  percussion?



Marlui - No, all that influence is  African...What the Indians influenced  was the language, the food, the  customs...the way Brazilians are, the  sweetness...(laugh)...



Arara - And why is that, Marlui? Why  did it happen that way?



Marlui - Because of the distance  between the Indians and the rest of the  population...the Africans were very  close, inside the homes of the white  people...The Indians were ignored  because they represent something very  primitive, they were savages...the  relationship with the Africans was very  different...you could not enslave,  bring the Indians inside the homes, to  be servants...the few who were enslaved  died away, disappeared...so nobody  heard their music...there was no  knowledge, no information...and the  Africans, it was a different type of  music, there was the religion also...we  ended up absorbing all that...we were  captivated by all that, which is very  beautiful...



Arara - We started with the  Jesuits...might as well end with  them...What happened with the Jesuits  and the Indians, in the beginning of  the colonization of Brazil? The stories  one reads about the music in the Mass...



Marlui - The Jesuits protected the  Indians...they tried to convert them,  that was their objective, but they also  protected them...and they could play  their flutes in the Mass...that's true.



Arara - Marlui, what's ahead for you?



Marlui - I'm continuing this  work...It's my life...We just published  a companion book to this CD...in  Brazil...And my new project...by  coincidence...it's a Mass...a Jesuit  has asked me to do an Indian Mass...but  it's something new, not based on the  work done in the 16th century...I still  don't know how it's going to be,  exactly, but it'll have Indian music...



Arara - Thanks, Marlui...hope this  makes people around the world aware of  your work...maybe someday you won't be  needing all those grants...



Marlui Miranda, Maria Brazil, Arara's  Pages.

English:

Matias Romero, born in the city of Santos, on the coast of the state of São Paulo, works with music, video, literature and almost all forms of art where he can lay his hands on. Since he was a child he has shown a knack for literature, reading street signs precociously, according to his mother. This is where his passion for literature came into being, from its most primeval nucleus: the letters of the alphabet themselves. From this passion to music it was not exactly just a leap away, but it was through the record sleeve concepts from the seventies (especially those produced by Hipgnosis for the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin) and also Brazilian popular music, with the fantastic sleeve designs of Elifas Andreatto for Paulinho da Viola and Martinho da Vila that he started to investigate the possibilities of visual art and marketing design for an authoring environment of his own, first starting with the models to attain a more and more customized feel into his creations, completely of his own. Has been a self-taught artist ever since. On the 22nd June 2002, attracted by the work of an online friend who went by just as ~neuroglider, whom he never met in the flesh, or found out about his name, landed for the very first time at Deviantart. The rest has been recorded here, throughout journals and works. Currently works with translations, versions, video, video subtitling, music, visual art, photography and what you may have.


Português:

Matias Romero, nascido em Santos, litoral do estado de São Paulo, trabalha com música, vídeo, literatura e quase todas as formas de arte nas quais possa por a mão. Desde pequeno revelava sua inclinação para a literatura, lendo placas de rua de maneira precoce, segundo sua mãe. Daí sua paixão por literatura desde o seu núcleo mais básico: as proprias letras do alfabeto. Daí para a música não foi exatamente um pulo, mas foi através das capas de discos de rock (especialmente aquelas produzidas pela Hipgnosis para bandas como Pink Floyd e Led Zeppelin) e de música brasileira também, principalmente as fantásticas capas produzidas por Elifas Andreatto para Paulinho da Viola e Martinho da Vila nos anos 70, que começou a investigar as possibilidades de uma arte visual autoral sua, que se iniciava com os modelos, mas que partia para uma personalização inevitável de seu conteúdo. Tem sido autodidata desde então. Em 22 de junho de 2002, atraído pelo trabalho de um amigo online que jamais viu pessoalmente ou mesmo soube o nome, apenas o apelido ~neuroglider, aterrissou pela primeira vez em solo deviantartense. O resto está gravado aqui, entre diários e trabalhos enviados. Trabalha atualmente com traduções, versões, legendas em vídeo, fotografia, arte visual, música, vídeo e o que mais vier.

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Pioneer of modern Brazilian architecture, painter, drawing artist, writer, playwright, Flávio de Resende Carvalho studied in England and was always distinguished by the boldness and originality of his creations. He was innovative, used to trailing paths never covered before since his beginnings.

His originality was revealed, for instance, in the Dance of the Dead God when he built luminous sceneries for a choreographic symphony of his friend Camargo Guarnieri. Or also in his ridiculed attempt to suggest and impose Brazilians more adequate dress for the warm climate of the tropics, parading a small skirt on the streets of São Paulo. A great painter and drawing artist connected to expressionism, he had the human figure as one of his favorite themes, with famous portraits he made of celebrities in Brazilian cultural life as the writers Mário de Andrade and José Lins do Rego.

But it was in the drawings of the Tragic Series, made by his mother's deathbed in 1947, that Flávio de Carvalho attained the zenith of his art. Almeida Sales wrote about this work: "Not knowing how to express himself more deeply than by means of stuttering sketches acummulating on the white paper sheets, he dared to turn his dying mother's room into an atelier to record the bizarre event.

He left the tragic room like a god that had stopped the inexorable process of death. Under his arm, sheets drawn with charcoal kept forever the most extraordinary snapshot of all times: the last breath of an elderly woman entering the realms of death, fixed on the paper by the man that had been given birth by her".

Source: Sampa Art: Flávio de Carvalho. Translated by matiasromero