Descripción de la Exposición
The Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève presents "Rituals of Care", the first mid-career survey in Europe dedicated to Brazilian artist Antonio Obá.
Antonio Obá’s multifaceted practice encompasses painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, and performance. His œuvre interrogates and subverts historical representations, reappropriating spiritual practices and stigmas of racism. Obá endeavors to reclaim his African heritage in a societal framework that has historically sought to dilute Black culture. His works therefore confront the violence inflicted over centuries upon African-Brazilian traditions and communities with new narratives.
The body, often his own, is central in Antonio Obá’s paintings and performances. He celebrates Black and nude bodies for their symbolic vulnerability while simultaneously depicting their inherent power. By reverting the traditional paradigms of Black representation in art history, Obá’s work elevates these figures, portraying them as masters of their environments and destinies. Although the representation of bodies in his paintings evolves over time – reflecting personal experiences, historical narratives, societal influences, and childhood memories – they always remain central.
Spirituality is another fundamental aspect of Obá’s practice and profoundly infuses his identity and works. On one hand, he seeks to highlight the oppression and injustices associated with religion. On the other, he harnesses the transformative power of rituals as forms of care and resistance.
Centre director and curator Andrea Bellini said the following about the artist’s work and upcoming exhibition: “All of Antonio Obá’s practice—be it painting, performance, installation, or drawing – is imbued with a mysterious atmosphere. And like any true mystery, it does not reveal itself but rather renews itself, placing each work at a crossroads of facts, memories, inventions, and meanings. For this artist, there is an evident relationship with the sacred, by which I mean the consciousness of a transcendental dimension of existence, of human life, and of the nature that shelters it. Personal memory, collective memory, redemption, and perhaps even forgiveness seem to deeply inspire all his extraordinary paintings. Thus the violent histories of the African diaspora, slavery, and colonialism do not form the basis for a melancholy elegy but are rather transformed into a celebration of the mystery of life and a hymn to existence and transcendence. Showing his work is a great honor for our institution.”
Exposición. 19 nov de 2024 - 02 mar de 2025 / Museo Nacional del Prado / Madrid, España
Formación. 23 nov de 2024 - 29 nov de 2024 / Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) / Madrid, España
