carlos carrion de britto velho

By LatAm ARTE

Carlos Carrion de Britto Velho moves to Buenos Aires (Argentina) and lives in the city from the age of eleven to nineteen, where he makes his first paintings. In 1965 he returned to Porto Alegre, where he exhibited for the first time in 1971. He studied lithography with Danúbio Gonçalves, in 1974. The following year, he traveled to Paris (France) and did an internship at the Desjobert lithography printing company. In the city he paints the series Reflexões e Variações sobre a América Latina, where the figures in dark colors appear blindfolded and with microphones, which according to the artist represent a denunciation of the dictatorship of the time. He stayed in Paris until 1976, when he returned to Brazil and started teaching painting at the Ateliê Livre da Prefeitura de Porto Alegre, between 1978 and 1981. At that time, there was a change in his work. The figures now have eyes again and, as at the beginning of his career, are painted in lighter tones. In 1981, the figures gained a 3rd eye, which according to the artist means the eye of inner vision. In the paintings, man, animals and everyday objects interact, such as wheeled elephants, transforming into vehicles and these having human limbs. From then on, all his paintings show three eyes, until 1995, when he returned to painting figures with two eyes. He is invited by Rede Brasil Sul de Comunicações in Porto Alegre to create a billboard for the Let's Color the City project. He moved to São Paulo in 1985 and the following year he participated in the 2nd Havana Biennial. He participates in Projeto Etremos, a painting exhibition with Aprígio Fonseca, Dina Oliveira and Leonel Mattos, held in 10 Brazilian capitals. He is invited by Sesc Pompéia in São Paulo to create the poster for the Gente de Fibra exhibition, an exhibition in which he participates with sculptures. In 1991, he returned to live in Porto Alegre, where he received tributes from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Porto Alegre-MAC and the Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli-Margs that highlight his work. At this time he held the retrospective O Realismo Mágico de Britto Velho, with works since 1975. He currently lives in Porto Alegre, where he teaches private painting courses in his studio.