Mario Cravo Neto

PROPOSAL
E X H I B I T I O N
Mario Cravo Neto
A serene expectation
of light
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
2
INTRODUCTION
Cravo Neto’s photographs shed light on the deeply spiritual and idiosyncratic
lives of the people of Bahia, highlighting the complex cultural heritage of the
Bahia State’s capital city, Salvador, where Cravo Neto was born and spent most
of his life, and of which was a point of entry for millions of African slaves at the
peak of Portuguese colonial rule between the 16 and 18th centuries. His images
contain a beauty and inner force that dignify the inherited struggle for survival
that followed the trauma of the middle passage, and the complexity of mixed
cultural codes as well as the effect of poverty and segregation that resulted from
colonisation as experienced in contemporary life.
During the mid 1970s, Cravo Neto began to develop photographic works that
made a transition between sculpture and photography. By associating inanimate
objects and human bodies in his compositions, he inaugurated his unique,
authorial image making. The black and white images produced between the mid
1980s to the late 1990s became Mario Cravo Neto’s trademark images—sensual
and unique photo-sculptures where the subjects seem ‘…caressed by his serene
expectation of light’, as poet and composer Caetano Veloso described them.
Cravo Neto belongs to a generation of Brazilian photographers who
experimented with the medium, freeing it from its documentary function. Despite
his focus in the visual repertoire offered by Bahia, he did not intend to illustrate
any aspect of Brazilian culture in an ethnographic manner - as his friend Pierre
Verger and other photographers of the previous generations did - but rather
constructed a self-contained contemporary cosmogony that celebrates the soul
of the African Diaspora in Brazil in a poetic and stunningly lush visual way.
His tableaux vivants are visual essays on the identification of African spiritualities
and European Catholicism that took root in Brazil, particularly the development
of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian form of worship that Cravo Neto also practised.
This rich and multilayered belief system born from resistance to oppression and
sustained to this present day, finds in Cravo Neto’s body of work an expression
of splendour that connects Bahia with Africa, Portuguese baroque, Catholic
liturgy and popular culture.
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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SELECTION OF WORKS
A serene expectation of light is selected from two bodies of work, the studio
portraits executed during the 1980s and 1990s, and the Laróyè series produced
in the preceding ten years before Cravo Neto’s untimely death in 2009.
15 Black and white photographs
“My idea from now on is to develop that transition between the inert object
and the sacred object. It is simply a religious position in photography that I wish
to adopt.”
The series reflects Cravo Neto’s formative interests in sculpture — relaying the
artist’s attention to the materiality and construction of the image in the studio to
its final production in the lab, where the printing process and the print surface
of the image acquires a pictorial density, dramatising the interplay between
shadow and light, sensuality and theatricality.
Human figures appear fragmented and juxtaposed with animals used in
Candomblé rituals – doves, geese, roosters, as well as fruits, stones, daggers
and other symbolic objects that emerge from an African repertoire and also
recall the attributes that populate European still life and vanitas paintings from
the 17th and 18th century. Cravo Neto was likely to have been influenced by
the religious reliquaries and paintings adorning the multiple baroque churches
of Salvador. This material and religious syncretism becomes a metaphor for
the union of Aiyé (the material world) and Orun (the metaphysical world)
punctuating the visual image with an impact comparable to that of the religious
belief.
20 full colour photographs
Laróyè depicts instances of urban Salvador — capturing the everyday life of its
inhabitants, cultural activities such as carnival, and Salvador’s environmental
and architectural landmarks. Cravo Neto’s visual style strays from ethnographic
depictions, dwelling deeply into the textural and symbolic patterns of
Salvadorian reality.
Candomblé’s inception in Brazil enabled African slaves to retain a sense of
self amidst the oppression of forced labour. The religious practice allowed
communities to survive the misfortune of exploitation through a spiritual practice
that represented a form of individual and communal resistance. In present day
Bahia, as well as in the main urban centres of the country’s south, where the
majority of the black population experiences conditions of unemployment,
underdevelopment and lack of opportunities, Candomblé remains a code of
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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conduct, which does not distinguish between good and evil, and therefore
becomes an ethical alternative for deprived social groups.
Throughout this series, Cravo Neto pays homage to Èsù, messenger of God;
a trickster divinity and overseer of the cross roads between the material and
spiritual worlds. Èsù’s symbolic attributes are observed as fully present in daily
life and ritualistic activity: the colours red and black, the iron prongs and the clay
phallus are encountered casually in the street markets and the old city’s corners.
The invocation of Èsù, as head of an extensive pantheon of saints to initiate all
rituals, regardless of the patron saint presiding the session, confirms his wise
but playful spirit. As chief protector of the household he lives by the main door
and likes to be offered sweets, tobacco and liquor. He is the guardian of orphan
children and vagrants. He likes to dance and drink and is prone to party,
wandering the streets Èsù attracts fortune or causes great losses.
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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BLACK AND WHITE WORKS
Selenium toned prints on
Ilford fibre base paper.
Approx 96.5 x 96.5 cm
Framed 103 x 103 x 3 cm
Deus da cabeça 1988
Odé 1989
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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Homem com dois
peixes 1992
Homem com lagrimas
de passaro 1992
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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Silencio 1992
Tinho III (mãos) 1990
Tinho I 1990
Sacrificio V 1989
Angela e Lukas, torso
com Penas brancas
1988
Èsù dos ventos 1997
Tinho com osso 1990
Luciana 1994
Homem com objeto
estranho 1994
Mascara com dois
peixes 1992
Coração de pedra 1991
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light
Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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LARÓYÈ COLOUR PRINTS
Approx. 70 x 100 cm
Framed
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Critically considered among the most influential Brazilian
artists of his time, Mario Cravo Neto was born in 1947. His
father, the sculptor Mario Cravo Junior introduced his son
at the age of 17 to the art of sculpture and photography.
The younger artist accompanied his father to Berlin during
an artist’ sresidency sponsored by the Ford Foundation,
returning to Brazil in 1965 to complete his secondary
education, and then eventually moving three years later in
1968 to New York, where he studied at the Art Students
League, creating sculptures and installations—terrariums
of living plants and acrylic boxes inspired by land art
interventions and conceived for the gallery space and
outdoors. In 1970 he participated in the XII São Paulo
Biennale with a large earth-based installation. His work
continued in this vein and expanded to include
performance, and then after a near-fatal car accident in
1975, which left him immobile for a year, Cravo Neto
focused on film and photography. After a very long illness
and battle against skin cancer, Cravo Neto died in August
2009 in Salvador, Bahia.
S E L E C T E D S O LO E X H I B I T I O N S I N
EUROPE AND THE US
2006
The Eternal Now Patrizia Papachristidis Gallery, London
Territórios de Transe Galeria Fernando Pradilla, Madrid
2005
The Eternal Now Rencontres d’Arles. Arles, France
2003
La Mirada, Daros Latin America, Zürich
2002
IFA-Galerien Stuttgart, Berlin, Bonn
Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan
2001
Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
Nationalhistoriske Museum Frederiksborg
1999
Centro de Fotografia Universidad, Salamanca
Galeria Visor, Valencia
Galeria S-292, Barcelona
Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
1998
Photo España, Madrid
Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
1997
Oldenburger Kunstverein
Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Bohusläns Museum, Uddevalla
Boras Kunstmuseeet
1996
Museum für Fotografie Braunschweig
Kunstverein Steyr, Stein
Centro Cultural de Bélem, Lisbon
1995
Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago
The Witkin Gallery, New York
Susan Spiritus Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
1994
Frankfurter Kunstverein
Museum of Photographic Art, San Diego
Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles
Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Washington, DC
1993
Vision Gallery, San Francisco
Fahley/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
Galeria Módulo, Lisbon
1992
Houston FotoFest
Canon Image Center, Amsterdam
1990
Galerie Springer, Berlin
1988
The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki
2000
Contemporain de Lyon
Sicardi Sanders Gallery, Houston
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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S E L E C T E D S O LO E X H I B I T I O N S I N
L AT I N A M E R I C A A N D A F R I C A
2008
Flecha em Repouso, Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte,
Salvador, Bahia
Territórios de Transe, Arte 21 Galeria, Rio de Janeiro.
FotoMuseo, Bogotá
O Tigre do Dahomey – A Serpente de Whydah
Museu Afro-Brasil, São Paulo
2005
Somewhere Over The Rainbow – La Mer Video
Installation at Mostra Pan Africana de Arte Contemporânea,
Museu de Arte Moderna, Salvador, Bahia
2004
VI Biennale de l’Art Contemporain, Dakar
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro
Gallleri Image, Arhus
Galeria Bolsa de Arte, Rio de Janeiro
Galeria André Millan, Sao Paulo
Galeria Paulo Darzé, Salvador
Espaço Cultural ECCO, Brasilia
Palacio Aguirre de Cartagena
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo
Espaço Neogama, São Paulo
Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires
Galeria Pierre Verger, Salvador, Bahia
Solar do Barao, Curitiba
Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
Ada Galeria, Salvador, Bahia
Galeria del Teatro General San Martin, Buenos Aires
MONOGRAPHS 2000 – 2008
A Flecha em repouso, Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte,
Salvador, Bahia, 2008
O Tigre do Dahomey – A Serpente de Whydah, Paulo
Darzé Galeria de Arte, Salvador, Bahia, 2004
Trance-Territories, Dahlen Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin,
Verlad das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg, 2004
Na Terra Sob Meus Pés, Ed. by Centro Cultural Banco
do Brasil, 2003
The Eternal Now, Áries Editora, Salvador, Bahia, 2002
EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
Mario Cravo Neto, Carla Sozzani Editore Milano, 2001
Laróyè, Áries Editora, Salvador, Bahia, 2000
Salvador, Áries Editora, Salvador, Bahia, 1999
Mario Cravo Neto, edition Stemmle, Zurich, 1994
Exvoto, Áries Editora, Salvador, Bahia, 1986
P R I V AT E A N D M U S E U M C O L L E C T I O N S
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Museum of Fine Arts/The Allan Chasanoff
Photographic Collection, Houston
The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
The Princeton Art Museum, Princeton
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
Volfsburg Kunst Museum, Volfsburg
Museet for Fotokunst, Odense
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Sao Paulo
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Suomen Valokuvataiteen Museo, Helsinki
Museo de Arte Contemporanea de São Paulo
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo
Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador
Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerpen
The Hasselblad Collection, Goteborg
The Brooklyn Museum, New York
Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics, Center of
Photography, Tokyo
Fondation Cartier, Paris
DG Bank, Frankfurt
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, Caracas Daros
Latinamerica, Zurich
Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid
Mr Bert Hartcamp Collection, Amsterdam
Kim Stevens Collection, São Paulo
Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection/Museo de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
Links to related sites
http://www.cravoneto.com.br/indexenglish.html
http://www.institutomariocravoneto.com.br/
Mario Cravo Neto a serene expectation of light Autograph ABP and Gabriela Salgado
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C U R ATO R B I O G R A P H I E S
Gabriela Salgado is an Argentine-born curator based
in London, UK. After obtaining an MA in Curating
Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art she was
appointed curator of the Collection of Latin American Art
at Essex University, UECLAA (1999-2005). From 2006
to 2011 she worked as curator of Public Programmes at
Tate Modern and co-curated the 2 Biennale of Thessaloniki
(Greece) ‘PRAXIS: Art in Times of Uncertainty’ in 2009.
Working independently in the UK and Latin America since
2005, she curated a number of exhibitions and organised
international workshops, residencies programmes and art
education activities in the UK, Greece, Brazil, Argentina,
Mark Sealy studied at Goldsmith College, London
University and then worked in Fleet Street for a major
national newspaper. He subsequently worked for three
years with Network Documentary Photographers in both
development of reportage features, and syndication and
sales, before moving on in 1991 to become Director of
Autograph ABP, where he has initiated the production of
over 50 publications, produced exhibitions globally, as well
as commissions and residencies projects. Sealy has a
special interest in art and its relationship to social change
and Human Rights. Recent acclaimed recent curatorial
projects included Disposable People a Hayward Gallery
Chile, Mexico, Algeria, Cuba, Colombia, Nigeria and Spain.
She regularly contributes articles and essays to art
publications and participates in international conferences
and symposia with a focus on trans-national practice and
dialogues between the Latin American and African
Diasporas around the world.
Touring exhibition which opened at Royal Festival Hall in
London Oct 2008 and toured nationally throughout 2009
and was viewed by over 250,000 people. In 2007, Sealy
was awarded the Hood Medal for services to photography
by the Royal Photographic Society. He is currently a PhD
candidate at Durham University. His research focuses on
photography and cultural violence.
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EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
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is a charity that works internationally
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