____Born in Fortaleza, in the state
of Ceará, on the 1st March 1957, and died in São
Paulo on the 28th May 1993, Leonilson is certainly one of the
most distinguished artists of his generation. During his short
lifetime, he participated in Bienals in Paris, São Paulo
and Istanbul, and exhibited at the MoMA, in New York, besides
numerous other national and international institutions and galleries,
such as the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, the Museu
de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and the Museu de Arte Moderna
da Pampulha, in Belo Horizonte.
____The artist published two books:
"Leonilson: são tantas as verdades", published
by SESI, and "Leonilson: use, é lindo, eu garanto",
with illustrations by the artist that were first published in
the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. Leonilson is also the
subject of a prize winning video by Karen Harley, produced by
RioArte, entitled: "Com o oceano inteiro para nadar".
____The artist's work, an exponent
emblem of the so-called "80s Generation", covers a relatively
short period (from 1983 to 1993), but nevertheless, at the same
time it manages to achieve the deserved attribute of being a "complete
work" unto itself. In fact, his career, interrupted due to
AIDS, is an affirmation of its unequivocal contents. Reoccurring
symbols characterise the language of the artist : rocks, volcanoes,
mountains, musical instruments, the fire and the cross, organs,
water, spirals and cardinal points. All these images are joined
to the use of the word (in compositions of graphic and poetic
value) in order to singularise Leonilson's universe.
____Acclaimed for his paintings,
in vivid colours and large formats, Leonilson was also, however,
an eminent designer, throwing himself into reduced spaces with
his economic use of shapes and colours. In fact, drawing was one
of the artist's most constant activities, but the market, with
its habitual disinterest in productions on paper, did not know
how to bring it to the public eye.
____Leonilson has also left behind
him around one hundred "embroideries" (objects of embroidered
cloth, with pungent inscriptions regarding questions of incommunicability,
solitude and disease) as well as innumerable projects for installations.
____Within the Brazilian context,
there is no other artist of his generation that at the end of
the twentieth century, had the courage to confront themes referring
to romanticism. Consequently, Leonilson's testimony, charged with
autobiographical significance, is a contribution that transcends
mere formal discussion to expose the problems of the existential
modulation of the spirit of his time.
