An eclectic artist in the media used in his work, Sérvulo Esmeraldo (1929-2017), from Ceará, is the subject of the exhibition Linha e luz, a retrospective of his artistic career which is on show at the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro (CCBB-RJ) until 26 June.
Esmeraldo marked his work with technical plurality, working from carving to woodcut, by way of the use of technologies applied to the generation of kinetic, optical and electromagnetic effects, always employing a language and a treatment of forms that gave his artistic expression internal coherence.
Esmeraldo's artistic path began with woodcut. At the end of the 1940s, at the Sociedade Cearense de Artes Plásticas, he came into contact with the work of Inimá de Paula, Antonio Bandeira and Amilcar Martins. He moved into painting and worked on the installation of the 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. He ended up going to live in São Paulo, where he was a disciple of Lívio Abramo.
In Ceará, he founded the Museu da Gravura in Crato. But he expanded his artistic activity by living in Paris to experiment with lithography and also engraving on metal. By the 1960s he had joined the kinetic art movement. In that period he created the series of works named Excitáveis, with experiments in sculptural objects as well.
This rich artistic experience can be visited free of charge on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 9am to 9pm. On Sundays, between 9am and 9pm. Tickets can be issued online.
The exhibition is curated by Marcus Lontra and Dodora Guimarães. To bring the works together, the curators relied on the logistical support of Art Quality, a partner company of Clé Reserva Contemporânea, which ensured safe packing and transport conditions with professionals specially trained in collection art handling techniques.
