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Oscar Araripe
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Biography
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Oscar Araripe was internationally recognized and acclaimed as an important Brazilian writer, educator, and social and ecological activist well before he turned his talents to painting. With almost 100 exhibitions to his credit, Araripe continues to reinvent the art of painting, not only through his spontaneous and unusual brush strokes and colours, but also via his use of unconventional materials ranging from delicate tracing paper to large-scale public works made of weatherproof synthetic canvases (sail clouth) supported by sturdy tubular structures.
Invited to inaugurate new show places for painting, Oscar Araripe exhibited his work in the Villa Lobos Room of the National Theatre in Brasilia in 1991 and the following year at Ipanema Beach , Rio de Janeiro, his particulary and original ecological tribute, "The Pillar of Uaupes". He also exhibited Tiradentes, the Brazilian heroe, in April of the same year simultaneously in the gardens of the Republic Museum in Rio and on the Mineiro Museum, in Belo Horizonte.
In May, his exhibition "Kites"at the Bank of Brazil's Cultural Center in Rio was followed in June by "Extinction Never More" in the Botanical Gardens, also in Rio, as part of the special presentations during ECO-92 UN World Conference and seen by an estimated 2 million people. In July of 93, re-inaugurating the Ouro Preto Winter Festival, he exhibited "Kites of Freedom" in Tiradentes Square and in December, "Nativity" at Brasilia's Oscar Niemeyer famous Our Lady Little Chapel, where you found also beautiful paintings of the brazilian painter Guignard.
In March 94 he relocates his studio to the little historical village ofTiradentes, Minas Gerais, where he now lives. In April of the same year during FUNREI's 7th. Anniversary celebrations, he exhibited "Tiradentes" outdoors in Sao Joao del-Rei , where he also opened the 7th. Winter Culture Festival in July with " Sao Joao Kites", at various locations through out the city.
In May 95 he undertakes an interactive painting project with children of Tiradentes during the Federal University of Minas Gerais cultural workshop, exhibiting " Day and Night" outdoors in the town square, the Largo das Forras. In July he opens his exhibition "Tiradentes, the Little Village" in the old Courthouse, whith 15 canvasses on the adorable great little town. In December his series of 14 paintings on Sao Joao del-Rei goes on show at the Regional Museum. As from 96, he regularly shows his recent works in July at his own galleries in Tiradentes and Porto Seguro. In 99 he turns to the sea and paints seascapes in Ilha Comprida, Brazil and in San Simeon, California, USA.
In 2000 shows his virtual animated exhibition of "The Dance of the Flag Ant-Eater at www.oscarararipe.com.br when he was included on 100 Top Art Sites and won 52 International Art Awards. His Tarot Painting & Player was also hight appreciated on his site. Araripe also tooks part on World Art on Paper 2000, in Kranj, Slovenia .In 2001 shows in Museu de Porto Seguro, Bahia, his Sea Little House and Seascapes. In 2001 he was invited to exhibit America`s Amas in Robert Robeson School TriAmerica`s Exhibition in New Jersey, USA and his painting-sculpture Horse to the Visual Arts League Exhibition at Lincoln Center, New York. In 2002 he opens a new personal gallery at the Historical Town ,in Porto Seguro, Bahia State and Oscar Araripe, a Cesar Tolentino`s video wons the V Tiradentes Movie Festival. In 2003 is invited to exhibit in the IV Biennale di Firenze, Italy. In 2004 shows Flores para los vivos at Rosa Girardi Art Space, in Juiz de Fora and Ceara at Cariri University, Crato, and simultaneously at the Oboe Cultural Organization, in Fortaleza, Ceara. Also in 2004 he portraid his six grandmother Barbara de Alencar, the brazilian heroine and exhibit Two Araripes in Cearense Press Association, in Fortaleza .
Some statements on Oscar araripe
"Oscar Araripe - An open clearing exploding in the jungle of painting" - says Jean Boghici.
"His opinions, his lifestyle and his work make up a harmonic whole and go hand in hand with this rare and fortunate, truly fantastic, extraordinary overflowing that his painting reveals" - says Wilson Lima.
"With his outdoor exhibitions, using synthetic canvas for the first time in painting, Araripe meets in an original way the challenge of taking art straight to the multitudes" - says Fernando Lemos.
"Araripe, his painting for me is poetry. It has the beauty of color, the purity and joy of children and the artist's talent. This is the way real masters create" - says Milton Ribeiro.
"Nobody has portrayed Ouro Preto more beautifully than he; so radiant - and that`s no easy thing finding radiance, beneath all that weight of history "- writes Gustavo Praca in his book "Hoeing the River".
"I laid out on the table those 200 or so drawings, done with an incredible mixture of materials - acrylic, pastel, industrial paints, pen and ink - and all done on unheard of tracing- paper. I went through them one by on as if flicking the pages of a book.
This parallel I draw with a text is not as silly as it seems, after all, Oscar Araripe, writer and theatrical whiz-kid, a personality of the 60's, author of a successful book on China and since 1975 a novelist, draws and paints a little like he writes, in a torrent. And, I must confess, it was some trip - as if I, the straightest of them a.ll, had been turned on for the first time" - says Frederico Moraes
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Statement
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Oscar Araripe - An open clearing exploding in the jungle of painting" - says Jean Boghici.
"His opinions, his lifestyle and his work make up a harmonic whole and go hand in hand with this rare and fortunate, truly fantastic, extraordinary overflowing that his painting reveals" - says Wilson Lima.
"With his outdoor exhibitions, using synthetic canvas for the first time in painting, Araripe meets in an original way the challenge of taking art straight to the multitudes" - says Fernando Lemos.
"Araripe, his painting for me is poetry. It has the beauty of a new color, the purity and joy of children and the artist's talent. This is the way real masters create" - says Milton Ribeiro.
"Nobody has portrayed Ouro Preto (a brazilian colonial historical town) more beautifully than he; so radiant - and that`s no easy thing finding radiance, beneath all that weight of history "- writes Gustavo Praca in his book "Hoeing the River".
"I laid out on the table those 200 or so drawings, done with an incredible mixture of materials - acrylic, pastel, industrial paints, pen and ink - and all done on unheard of tracing- paper. I went through them one by on as if flicking the pages of a book.
This parallel I draw with a text is not as silly as it seems, after all, Oscar Araripe, writer and theatrical whiz-kid, a personality of the 60's, author of a successful book on China and since 1975 a novelist, draws and paints a little like he writes, in a torrent. And, I must confess, it was some trip - as if I, the straightest of them all, had been turned on for the first time" - says Frederico Moraes.
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Exhibitions
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Oscar Araripe - Solo Exhibitions
1973 - Rio de Janiero RJ - Poemacao, in Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Galeria Olivia Kann
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ -Landscapes in Space Nas Rocas.
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Pilar do Areiao, in Rio Design Center, during the 1a Exposicao do Livro de Arte
1990 - Resende RJ - Itatiaias Landscapes and Animals, in Museum of Modern Art /MAM/Resende
1990 - Sao Paulo SP -Landscapes and Animals in Galeria Paulistano
1990 - Penapolis SP - The Docodema Pilar, in Galeria Itau Cultural
1990 - Brasilia DF -Landscapes, in Galeria Itau Cultural
1991 - Brasilia DF - The Uaupes's Pillar, in Mezanino of Sala Villa-Lobos / Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Uaupes's Pillar, permanent out-door exhbition at Arpoador Beach.
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Oscar Araripe: Landscapes and Screens, in Idea Galeria de Arte
1992 - Ouro Preto MG - Tiradentes, o Animoso Alferes. Permanent outdoor exhibition in Museu da Inconfidencia
1992 - Belo Horizonte MG - Tiradentes, o Animoso Alferes. Permanent out-door exhbition in Museu Mineiro
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tiradentes, o Animoso Alferes. Permanent outdoor exibition in Museu da Republica
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Kites, in Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil/ CCBB
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Extinction Never More, in Jardim Botanico, during the United Nations Conference / Rio-92
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Oscar Araripe: Ouro Preto Todo Meu, in Galeria Vila Riso
1992 - Ouro Preto MG - Ouro Preto/Five Visions, in Spix and Martius Gallery.
1992 - Ouro Preto MG - Oscar Araripe / Ouro Preto Todo Meu, in Fundacao de Arte de Ouro Preto Gallery.
1994 - Sao Joao del Rei MG - Kites of Sao Joao. Permanent outdoor exhibition, during the 7o Inverno Cultural
1995 - Sao Joao del Rei MG - D'El'Rey Images, in Museu Regional de Sao Joao del Rei
1995 - Tiradentes MG - Tiradentes,The Lovely Town, in old Forum
1995 - Tiradentes MG - The Day and The Night, interactive painting performace with Tiradentes's children, in Largo das Forras
1999 - Sao Joao del Rei MG - Scenes Del Rey , in Espaco Cultural Del Rey
1999 - Ilha Comprida SP - in Centro Cultural da Ilha Comprida
2000 - Kranj (Eslovenia) - The Dance of the Flag Ant-Eater, in World Art on Paper Festival
2000 - Porto Seguro BA - Seascapes, in Museu de Porto Seguro
2000 - San Simeon USA - in Castoro Cultural Center
2001 - Nova York USA - Horse, in Cork Gallery
2001 - New Jersey USA - Americas'Entities. Permanent outdoor exhibition at Paul Robeson School campus
2003 - Firenze (Italia) - Nativity, in Firenze Biennial
2003 - Trancoso BA - Seascapes, in Galeria Canto Verde
2003 - Toulouse ( France ) - Solidarity, in Centre Souppetard.
2003 - Madrid ( Espanha ) - Solidarity, in Feria del Artista Independiente 2003.
2003- Mataro ( Espanha) - Solidarity, in Espai F.
2003- Valencia ( Espanha) - Solidarity, in Sala Anagma
2004- Juiz de Fora MG - Flores...flores para los vivos, in Galeria Jade / Rosa Girardi
2004-Crato Ceara - Ceara , in Universidade do Cariri - Urca
2004-Fortaleza Ceara ( Brazil) - Ceara, in Centro Cultural Oboe-Iracema
2004-Crato Ceara ( Brazil )- Retrato e Fazenda de Barbara de Alencar, in Expocrato
2004- Huntingdom Valley, PA. USA - Ceara - in Toro Gallery
2004 -Toulouse ( France ), Art and Life, in Maison des Alles.
2003- Barcelona ( Espanha ) - Art and Life, in Casa Amatller, Institut D`Art Hispanic.,
2003- Barcelona ( Espanha) - Solidarity, at Espai Wonee.
2004- Mataro ( Espanha ) - Art and Life, Hospital de Mataro.
2004- Madrid ( Espanha) - Fnac Plaza Norte y Callao.
2004- Marbella ( Espanha) - Fnac de Marbella.
2004-Barcelona ( Espanha)- Art and Life , LuGar y Simo ( Madrid)
2004-Fortaleza CE - Dois Araripes, na Associacao de Imprensa Cearense.
2005-Miami,Florida ( USA) - An American Springtime, in Solange Rabello Art Gallery.
2005- Granada ( Espanha) - at Asociacion Cultural Valentin Ruiz Aznar.
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Next Artist: Jay Bird 
