CATALOG FOR VIX ESTÓRIAS CAPIXABAS
Arnaldo was invited to be part of the Catalog for “VIX Estórias Capixabas”, an exhibition that reopened the MAES – Museum of Art of Espírito Santo Dionisio Del Santo. “VIX Estórias Capixabas”: curatorship, texts and editing by Júlio Martins. Vitória: Espírito Santo. Public Archive, 2021.
Below, an interview by Júlio Martins with Arnaldo Baptista and, above, the works presented.
Júlio Martins — Arnaldo Baptista, I am moved by the way you extract so much poetry from the images, using such simple resources. I see you making relationships between real life stories, which seem to reverberate like a sound. How would you describe these two drawings?
Arnaldo Dias Baptista — I am a being who is part of a religious and squared humanity, and who sometimes finds an open road in front of me, from where I try to get the best out of what I can see.
I have many appetites and nourishments. Sometimes I feel like a kid in front of a piece of paper. I enter a stage of art that I call exorealism, something beyond the tangible. So, exorealism is when I translate what is out of sight into the tangible and palpable. Like at night, in bed, thinking: where would be the ideal place to be in the present moment? So, I go into exo. And the real side is when he realizes he’s breathing and it’s air, in a full sense.
In the drawings I used materials that remind me of childhood. They are very ready for me – I get in touch with the presence of a hand, a face, a landscape, a beautiful woman… This contact that I try to express is where physics finds its limits, because they are exoteric realities. I try to assume the posture of one who is sitting on a throne, looking down on Earth. And he tries to harvest the best fruit from there, both in terms of taste and the pleasure of eating, as well as to have the energy to continue living. I’m interested in the total, complete sense of the world, its presence, its reality. I have the impression that I can be called an idealist, but I want to get the best out of what I have – so I am always satisfied.
In this drawing, the lion is the king of animals and the atom is the king of the minuscule. This contrast may seem superfluous, but for me it’s important. The lines are his thought and the reverberations are the capacity of multiplying our desires. You said you heard the music of the world in it, right? The word research is very important in my life. I try to expand my knowledge of everything. My drawings are the communication of my presence in the universe.
In this other drawing, the cat feels happy. His name is Felix, which is Latin for happy.
Interview conducted on June 15, 2021
