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INSIGHT: Week 12 | Zéh Palito

Past viewing_room
9 - 22 September 2020
  • Insight: Week 12 | Zéh Palito

    9 - 15 September
  • INSIGHT IS A NEW ONLINE PLATFORM PRESENTED BY PIPPY HOULDSWORTH GALLERY, DEBUTING WORK BY A DIFFERENT ARTIST EACH WEEK. NEW WORK MADE DURING LOCKDOWN WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED ALONGSIDE A SHORT VIDEO PRESENTED BY THE ARTIST.

  • Insight: Week 12 | Zéh Palito

  • in the studio with ZÉH PALITO

     

     

     

    Zéh Palito's practice seeks to promote a relationship of mutual respect and pleasure between humans and the natural world, often drawing inspiration from Brazilian and African cultures. The artist works across very different scales, from ambitious site-specific murals to small-scale figurative works on canvas. In parallel with his commitment to the environment, elevating, inspiring and celebrating marginalised communities and underrepresented voices is a fundamental element of his practice - an implicit suggestion that the two issues go hand in hand.

     

    Palito's vibrant murals present fantastical landscapes where humans, animals and plant-life coexist in dynamic harmony. Wide-open skies collide with flat geometric planes of colour, whilst big cats and tropical birds move through a world of vibrant foliage, houseplants and oversized fruits. Palito, choosing to represent those of Black, Indigenous and Asian heritage, depicts his figures in sync with their surroundings. Through dramatic shifts in scale and a highly saturated use of colour, the artist proposes a wonderous utopic vision for the future.

     

    Whilst Palito adopts a similar visual vocabulary across his practice, the artist's most recent works on canvas focus on individuals with a greater intimacy of perspective. 

  • Bela Aurora, 2020 acrylic on canvas 160 x 120 cm, 63 x 47 1/4 in Sold A woman turns towards...

    Bela Aurora, 2020

    acrylic on canvas
    160 x 120 cm, 63 x 47 1/4 in

    Sold

     

    A woman turns towards the viewer positioned against the backdrop of a vibrant bunch of immense blue-spotted pink bananas. This motif, which Palito has previously used across a number of his murals, invokes a wondrous world of abundance and celebration. Using a simplified palette of bold blues and pinks, Palito enhances the soft intensity of the woman's dark skin. The work's title, referencing the dawn, compares her beauty with the sunrise, defying any association of black identity with the negative perceptions of the dark.

  • 'Beneath the paint lives a fantasy world with everything intertwined: colours, forms, energies, animals, people and nature merge into a simultaneous existence and breathe together as one.'

    Louise Bird, Arts Council of Wales Research and Development Grant

  • Conceição da Crioulas, 2020 acrylic on canvas 160 x 120 cm, 63 x 47 1/4 in Sold A woman leans...

    Conceição da Crioulas, 2020

    acrylic on canvas
    160 x 120 cm, 63 x 47 1/4 in
    Sold

     

    A woman leans comfortably in what appears to be a domestic setting. She is dressed in loose lilac and mauve clothing, painted flatly in contrast with the loose brushstrokes that depict her skin. Using the same dynamic strokes, Palito paints bright red apples, watermelon, and a luscious green plant that encloses her protectively. Presenting his figure against a uniform background of mustard yellow, the artist simplifies everything but her body and the fruitfulness of the natural environment, positioning the two in harmony.

  •  'Zéh Palito's visual mythology celebrates the vitality and dynamism intrinsic to this chaotic world.' 

    Gateways to Newark, Artist Portraits

  • Zéh Palito, Bela Taperoá, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito, Maria Rosa, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito, When my weapon is I, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito, Adam and Eve, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito, Bela Taperoá, 2020
  • About Zéh Palito

    About Zéh Palito

    Zéh Palito lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Palito graduated from the Faculdade de Administraco e Artes de Limeira, Brazil (FAAL), and studied Fine Art at the Escola Municipal de Cultura e Artes (EMCEA) and Development Studies at Human People to People, United States and Zambia. Palito has exhibited internationally with public exhibitions including Tropical Diaspora, a solo exhibition at Eubie Blake Cultural Center, Baltimore (2020); ArteCore at Museu de Arte Modera, Rio de Janeiro (2018); Cosmic Boys (with Rimon Guimarães) at Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center, Lebanon (2017) and 2° - Mostra Graffiti Street Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, São Paulo (2014). Other recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Utopia Tropical, (with Rimon Guimarães) Galeria Quintal, Rio de Janeiro (2016), travelling to Galerie La Caronnerie, Paris (2019), We saw the future, Galery Idrawalot, Berlin (2013) and Mystical Dreams, AGIT Gallery, Busan (2012).

  • Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Cosmic Boys, Zéh Palito and Rimon Guimarães (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Zéh Palito (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Zéh Palito

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