The Tender Fury
An imaginary ecosystem of colorful creatures with iridescent feathers and scales in a whirl of tender fury. Complex worlds that move between the fiction of fantastic fauna and flora and the direct relationship with individuals, peoples, and their territories. Through poetic language, bare of excesses and unadorned, we can see the handmade, participatory work of the artist and all those who were part of his studio. Scenarios of mythical landscapes show an intimate relationship with nature and with pictorial time, retained in the visual and oral memories of the artist’s origins and local residents.
In São Paulo, the universe of Chico da Silva and the Pirambu School was presented to the eyes of many for the first time. The exhibition, however, becomes even more relevant in Ceará—the land the artist adopted as his own. By highlighting the collective importance of the School as an artistic movement and promoting an emotional reunion with artworks that often excite our imagination, we unveil the School’s style of painting and show its value to the newer generations, based on a view expanded by the possibilities and power of the collection on display.
The Pinacoteca of Ceará hosts the largest celebration ever exhibited of Chico da Silva, recognizing that popular art is also contemporary art—a living translation of voices and stories about the sharing relationship that intersects socially, temporally, and economically in a poor coastal community. This amounts to a collective and inclusive experience of daily struggle in art and the act of recognizing oneself as an artist.
For the generous partnership in this exhibition, we thank the Pinacoteca of São Paulo, public and private institutions, art collectors, Chico da Silva’s family, and Pirambu School artists. A special thanks to the curators, technicians, and the invaluable, fearless staff of the Pinacoteca of Ceará.
Rian Fontenele
Director of the Pinacoteca do Ceará
