First published:Summer 2004
In recent years, Arthur Bispo do Rosario has become Brazil’s hottest art export. His work has been shown in Venice, Stockholm, Paris, New York, and in venues in Latin America. The art world has called him a conceptual artist, pop artist, visionary artist, folk artist, and even a psychotic artist. But these labels do not explain the man or his work.
Bispo do Rosario always insisted that he was not an artist, and that he had no choice in what he did.
To the outside world, he was a fabricator of visual stories in three dimensions, real and imagined, sacred and profane. He was a fastidious collector of throwaway materials, from which he fashioned pieces that recall the folk arts of his native region. Others resemble African decorated graves, and the amulets and wrapped healing charms of Congo cultures. Yet others reflect his Christian faith. The many facets of his work and their references to his background show that he was a man firmly rooted in his culture.
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #47
