Santídio Pereira — Un horizon végétal — Xippas Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: October 18 → December 22, 2023

_The true homeland of man is childhood. _
*Rainer Maria Rilke *

Galerie Xippas is pleased to present, for the first time in its Parisian space, an exhibition by Brazilian artist Santídio Pereira. The show will bring together a selection of recent works, including monumental woodcuts, wooden objects and watercolors on paper.
Over the past five years, the artist has focused on the representation of tropical plants and Brazilian landscapes. Santídio Pereira’s artistic project reclaims and revitalizes the significant tradition of Brazilian woodcut, carried by renown artists such as Oswaldo Goeldi, Manoel Messias and Anna Maria Maiolino. These artists share a common approach where the woodcut technique is used to depict images of contingent reality within a refine and minimal aesthetic. In this sense, the formal synthesis enabled by the woodcut technique connects Santídio Pereira’s work to the scientific tradition of botanical illustrations (which began to develop in the 6th century) where plant species are typically placed at the center of the page on a neutral background.
In this exhibition, the viewer can find representations of bromeliads (bromeliaceae), tropical plants native to the American continent, characterized by stemless leaves, narrow rosettes, and a deep calyx. Until the age of 8, the artist lived in the state of Piauí in Brazil, where a particular biome called caatinga is found, defined by a semi-arid tropical climate. This ecosystem is extremely rich in fauna and flora, with a prevalence of cacti and bromeliads. In Santídio Pereira’s work, nature and landscape are depicted both as fragile emblems in constant danger and as memories of his childhood. A childhood spent in permanent contact with nature constitutes a subtle space of nostalgia, similar to the homeland and identity that define one as an individual.

Manuel Neves
Curator

Santídio Pereira was born in 1996 in Curral Comprido, Estado do Piauí, Brazil. He lives and works in Sao Paulo.
He participated in numerous exhibitions at major Brazilian and international institutions such as Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM-SP); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris; Power Station of Art in Shanghai; and recently Iberê Camargo Foundation in Porto Alegre, Brazil dedicated him a personal exhibition. His work is currently presented at Triennale Milano, Italy.
His work is part of renown collections such as the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, USA; SESC Art Collection, São Paulo; Pinacoteca of the State of São Paulo, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France.