Cabelo

(this page was last updated in April 2023)

Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Brazil, 1967.
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PIPA 2019 Finalist.
PIPA 2019 nominee.
Works in the PIPA Institute Collection

Cabelo is a poet, musician and artist who considers his drawings, paintings, sculptures, songs, performances, videos and instaurations as manifestations of poetry. According to Luiz Camillo Osorio, “the various lines of force of his poetics – drawing, music, text, materials – have an expressive happening as their focus, always marked by the incisive presence of the body”. His work takes place both in museums and on the street. He participated in the X Documenta in Kassel, the 26th and 33rd São Paulo Biennials, the 7th Mercosul Biennial, among others. Currently, he is involved with the ongoing project ‘Light with Darkness’: an exhibition, a concert and a musical album that blend together into a single work.

Site: www.cabelo.etc.br

Video produced by Do Rio Filmes exclusively for PIPA 2019:

Artworks

Biography

Cabelo was born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Brazil, and came to Rio de Janeiro as a boy. Skating put him in contact with punk rock and its motto: “do it yourself”, an attitude that has marked his artistic expression to this day. He quit engineering school to devote himself to earthworm breeding. His contact with these annelids’ alchemical power to turn waste into humus greatly influenced his thinking, aware of his immersion in a hyperproductive society that generates material and immaterial waste. Sickened by an infestation of worms and protozoa, he returned to the city to seek treatment. During this convalescence, he discovered the poetry of Ferreira Gullar and Paulo Leminski, among others. He started attending classes at Parque Lage, and, inoculated with the virus of poetry, Cabelo and other poets form the group “Boato”, with whom he actively participates since the beginning of CEP 20.000 (Centro de Experimentação Poética – Centre for Poetic Experimentations) created by the poets Chacal and Guilherme Zarvos. In time, “Boato” transforms into a band. From then on he began to dedicate himself to fine arts and music simultaneously, considering them both as manifestations of poetry.

After a couple of collective exhibitions and his solo show “Cabeça D’Água”, at Galeria do Ibeu, he participated in Antártica Artes com a Folha in 1996, for which he is awarded. In the following year he took part in the X Documenta, in Kassel, Germany, with his work “Cefalópode Heptópode”, and in the “Lines from Brazil” show, with “Atlantic Tides”, at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. In 1996, with “Boato”, he releases the CD Abracadabra under the Warner Music label. The band’s performances were known for their mix of rhythms and their poetic and performative vigour. He used music in many of his works, either improvising with a microphone on the street as in “Cabelo incorpora MCs (Live at Largo do Machado)”, 2014, or with a band on a theater stage, like in “Pastor das Sombras”, 2000, transforming a poem by Baudelaire into a rap. In 2011 he produced the exhibition “Cabelo apresenta MC Fininho e DJ Barbante no Baile Funk (Gentil) Carioca”, a tribute to funk music in Rio. In collaboration with other musicians, he also made soundtracks that integrated installations such as “Caixa Preta”, 1999, with Paulo Vivacqua, mixing rap with voices from Glauber Rocha and Hélio Oiticica and in “Myanmar Miroir (The Corridor)” at Art Positions Miami Basel, 2006, with Leo Saad. According to Luiz Camillo Osorio, “the various lines of force of his poetics – drawing, music, text, materials – have an expressive happening as their focus, always marked by the incisive presence of the body. A crawling body, animal-body, reptile-body and, at the same time, a word-body, voice-body, drawing-body and spiritual with aesthetic intonation. Horizontally and verticality”. Currently, he is involved with the ongoing project ‘Light with Darkness’: an exhibition, a concert and musical album that blend together into a single work. The title comes from his song “Luz com Trevas” (“Light with Darkness”) which is part of and names his album, recorded by music producers Kassin and Nave. Fragments of the lyrics inspired the production of plastic objects, such as “Ovos Bomba” (Egg-bombs), which were opened and activated by dancers from the group “Grupo Suave”, to the beat of the drums played by DJ MSE, from the Bloco Sete rap collective. Aderbal Ashogum and the Treme Terra group, formed by ogans from “Ilê Omi Oju Aro” also participated in the establishment. The space was reactivated in multiple occasions, in talks with the artist, the curator Lisette Lagnado and guests such as the shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, the musician Marcelo Yuka, the writer Frederico Coelho, the filmmaker Emilio Domingos and the members from Slam das Minas.

Critical texts

Curriculum

Individual Exhibitions
2018
– “Luz com Trevas”, curated by Lisette Lagnado, Espaço Cultural BNDES, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2015
– “Obrigado volte sempre”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2012
– “Humúsica”, Modern Art Museum Rio de Janeiro (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Solo Project”, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Pinta NY, New York, USA
– “Sounds Like Light”, Marilia Razuk Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
– “MC Fininho e Dj Barbante no baile funk (Gentil) Carioca”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2010
– “No jardim dos jardins ambulantes”, curated by Paulo Reis, Centro de Pesquisa Carpe Diem, Lisbon, Portugal
2008
– “Nas asas do Escaravelho Verde Ouro”, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
– “O Marujo Mascate (da série ‘O Pastor das Sombras’)”, curated by Moacir dos Anjos, ARCO Performing, Madrid, Spain
2007
– “Mianmar Miroir”, curated by Paulo Reis, 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal
– Cabelo, Galeria Paulo Fernandes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2006
– “Mianmar Miroir (The Corridor)”, Art Basel Miami Beach 2006 (Art Positions), Miami, USA
– “Escrito pelo Raio”, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2005
– “Imediações de Monte Basura”, curated by Miguel von Hafe Pérez, Centre D’Art Santa Mônica, Barcelona, Spain
2003
– “Mi Casa Su Casa”, Galeria Paulo Fernandes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2002
– “Project Room”, ARCO, Madrid, Spain
– “Suite Volátil”, Galeria Paulo Fernandes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2000
– Cabelo, Galeria Paulo Fernandes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Project Room”, ARCO, Madrid, Spain
– “O Pastor das Sombras”, Largo da Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1999
– Sem Título, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
– “O próximo”, curated by Ligia Canongia, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1998
– “Cavalo do Cavalo”, Casa das Rosas, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Contaminação”, Morumbi Fashion, São Paulo, Brazil
1996
– “Cabeça d’água”, curated by Esther Emilio Carlos, Galeria IBEU, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Group exhibitions
2018
– 33ª Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Constelações – O retrato nas coleções do MAM-Rio”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2017
– “Prova de Artista”, Galeria Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Alucinações à Beira Mar”, Museum de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Art of the Treasure Hunt: the Grand Tour”, curated by Kasia Redzisz, Tuscany, Italy
2016
– “Uma Canção para o Rio”, curated by Paulo Miyada, Galeria Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Da Banalidade Vol.1”, curated by Paulo Miyada, Tomie Ohtake Institute, São Paulo, Brazil
– “La tente du shaman (Sphères 9)”, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France
– “Histórias da Infância”, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Fernando Oliva and Lilia Schwarcz, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), São Paulo, Brazil
– “Em Polvorosa”, curated by Fernando Cocchiarale, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2015
– “Ver e Ser Visto”, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “O Espírito de Cada Época”, curated by Rejane Cintrão, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2014
– “Brazil: Arte/Música”, curated by Magda Kardasz, Zacheta Project Room, Warsaw, Poland
– “A Teoria do Desvio dos Raios Luminosos e Outras Histórias”, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, SIM Galeria, Curitiba, Brazil
– Cabelo Incorpora MCs (Transperformance), Largo do Machado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Mostra Carioca: A Impureza como mito”, Museu da Casa das Onze Janelas, Belém, Brazil
– “Mostra Carioca: A Impureza como mito”, Centro Cultural Dragão do Mar, Fortaleza, Brazil
– “Mostra Carioca: A Impureza como mito”, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2013
– “As Tramas do Tempo na Arte Contemporânea: Estética ou Poética?”, curated by Daniela Busso, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2012
– “alguns de NÓS”, Galeria Marilia Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
– “Gigantes por la propia naturaleza”, Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
– “Quase Figura”, curated by Tiago Mesquita, Galeria Marilia Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2010
– “O Passeio de Kierkegaard”, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Paralela 2010”, curated by Paulo Reis, Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Cadavre Exquis”, curated by Débora Bolsoni and Fernanda Lopes, Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Do Pensamento a Representação”, curated by Luis Mussnich, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
2009
– 7ª Bienal do Mercosul, curated by Laura Lima, Victoria Noorthoorn and Camilo Yáñez, Mostra Absurdo, Porto Alegre, Brazil
– “Coleções 9”, curated by Nessia Leonzini, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
2008
– “De perto e de longe: Paralela 2008”, curated by Rodrigo Moura, Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Paper Trail: 15 Brazilian Artists”, curated by Maria do Mar Guinle, Allsopp Contemporary, London, England
– “Desenho”, Sesc Pinheiros & Art Basel Miami, Miami, USA, organized by Shirley Paes Leme
– “Monocromáticos”, curated by Paulo Reis, Galeria Mario Sequeira, Braga, Portugal
– “Entre a palavra e a imagem”, curated by Cecília Costa, Fátima Lambert and Paulo Reis, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon, Portugal
2007
– Itaú Contemporâneo: arte no Brasil 1981-2006, curated by Teixeira Coelho, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Mais Precioso que Prata”, curated by Alfredo Grieco, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Art Basel Miami 2007, Miami, USA
2006
– “Entre a palavra e a imagem”, curated by Cecília Costa, Fátima Lambert and Paulo Reis, Fundação Luis Seoane, La Coruna, Spain
– “Entre a palavra e a imagem”, curated by Cecília Costa, Fátima Lambert and Paulo Reis, Museo Amadeo de Souza Cardosa, Amarante, Portugal
– “Geração da Virada 10+1: os anos recentes da arte brasileira”, curated by Agnaldo Farias and Moacir dos Anjos, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Singular e Plural”, curated by Cauê Alves, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Padrões e Padronagens”, curated by Maria Ignez Barbosa and Oswaldo Correa da Costa, Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Paralela”, curated by Daniela Bousso, Pavilhão Armando Arruda (Parque do Ibirapuera), São Paulo, Brazil
2005
– “Rencontres Parallèles”, curated by Hervé Perdriolle, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France
– “Amalgames brésiliens: 18 artistes contemporains du Brésil”, Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie, France
– “Desenhos”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Piscinas”, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Aspectos da Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand 1960-1970: os primeiros anos”, curated by Reynaldo Roels, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Artistas da Bienal de São Paulo, curated by Alfons Hug, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
– “How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age”, curated by Philippe Vergne, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
– “How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age”, curated by Philippe Vergne, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico
2004
-8ª Bienal Internacional de Cuenca, curated by Alfons Hug, Cuenca, Ecuador
– 26ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, curated by Alfons Hug, São Paulo, Brazil
– “How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age”, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, USA
2003
– “How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age”, Fondazione Sandretto Rebaudengo Per L’Arte, Torino, Italy
2002
– “Violência e Paixão”, curated by Ligia Canongia, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Violência e Paixão”, curated by Ligia Candongai, Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2001
– “Novas Aquisições Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand”, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Côte à Côte: Art Contemporain du Brésil”, CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France
– “Em Busca da Identidade”, curated by Peter Weiermair, Museum der Moderne Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria
– “Em Busca da Identidade”, Galeria d’arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
– “Rio Trajetórias”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Guru Guru Black Power: os mortos não morrem”, performance with Jarbas Lopes, Fundição Progresso, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “A Imagem do som de Tom Jobim”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Orlândia”, curated by Márcia X and Ricardo Ventura, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “Em Busca da Identidade”, curated by Peter Weiermair, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal Unteröwisheim, Germany
2000
– “A Imagem do som de Gilberto Gil”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1999
– “Caixa Preta (Os Noventa)”, curated by Iole de Freitas, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– “A Imagem do som de Chico Buarque”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1998
– “A Imagem do som de Caetano Veloso”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1997
– “Lines from Brasil”, curated by Felicity Lunn, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England
– “Cefalópode Heptópode”, curated by Catherine David, X Documenta, Kassel, Germany
1996
– Cefalópode Heptópode (Antártica Artes com a Folha), curated by Lisette Lagnado, Stela Teixeira de Barros, Lorenzo Mami and Nelson Brisas Peixoto, Pavilhão Padre Manoel da Nóbrega, São Paulo, Brazil
1994
– “Novos Noventa”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1991
– “3D”, Universidade Estácio de Sá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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