Celebrity

For Bispo do Rosario, Art Could Only Be a Divine Calling

Arthur Bispo do Rosario was a Marine signalman, boxer, streetcar cleaner, and domestic worker in Rio de Janeiro, but was uninterested in defining his wide range of activities as an art. . According to angels who visited Bispo on the night of December 22, 1938, Bispo was instructed by Jesus He is the Christ to record or possibly reproduce reality. Hence the title of his first retrospective in the United States, held at the America’s Society in Manhattan:Bispo do Rosario: All Substances on Earth

His claim to being Jesus led to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, spending his life in a mental hospital and sometimes in the infamous Colonia Giuliano Moreira. (In 1954 he fled, and remained free until 1963, doing odd jobs and working.)

In 1964 he returned to Giuliano Moreira, where he remained until his death in 1989 at the age of 80, working desperately to prepare for Judgment Day. By 1967, he had successfully installed himself in Moreira’s almost empty solitary confinement pavilion, requisitioning 11 cells for studio and storage space. He said it was quieter and his voice was easier to hear.

Bispo and his work gradually became known in Brazil, attracting the attention of art critics, curators and documentary filmmakers in the 1980s. Wider fame began when he was one of his two artists to represent Brazil at his 1995 Venice Biennale (the other being Nuno Ramos). bottom). Bispo’s efforts were confirmed by important surveys such as his Biennale in Venice in 2013 and his retrospective in Paris in 2003.

A collaboration between the Americas Society and the Museu Bispo do Rosario Arte Contemporânea of ​​Rio de Janeiro, the exhibition will highlight Bispo’s greatness, rivaled by self-taught American and European geniuses such as Bill Traylor, Martín Ramírez, James Castle and Nellie Mae Rowe. can be immersed. Artists and writers Henry Darger and Adolf Wölfli.

Of course, Bispo could not explain “all substances that exist on earth.” But he communicated much of his immediate world, especially life in the Marine Corps and mental hospital, with convincing signs of his skill, dexterity, faith, and generosity. This last name looks inspiring on the list of names embroidered throughout his work. Mostly people he knew, sometimes including addresses and occupations. The list includes naval officers and fellow sailors, as well as doctors and hospital workers, who initially insisted on preserving his work. gives his writing an almost epic scale.

Bispo’s “Annunciation Garment” stands at the center of the show’s first gallery. It is considered his masterpiece and was specifically intended to be worn when he met God. The poncho-like cloak is made of faded terracotta colored blankets and its embroidery forms a veritable encyclopedia of everyday life. A grand piano and pool table are located near the tracks. The chessboard dwarfs the ping pong table and paddles. On the front of his left shoulder, a series of schematic semaphore signals recall his years in the Marine Corps. With blue thread on a white background, the lining of the robe has many names of women he knew.

The large gallery houses an extraordinary collection made from everything Bispo was able to salvage. Mounted side by side on a worn wooden frame are examples of slippers, spoons, metal cups, and soda bottles filled with colorful confetti that were handed out to patients. There are also elaborate toy sailing ships, a carousel, sashes and scepters for Miss His Universe contestants, all decorated with information about their respective nations.

Most interesting are the familiar tools and other objects wrapped in threads unwound from the patient’s uniform. Everything is practically made from scratch and has a name sewn on. Includes mower, drawing compass and toy bow and arrow. Overall, these eerie objects treated as relics connect Bispo with much of the so-called insider art. Surrealism, Fluxus, Conceptualism, Arte Povera, and post-war Brazilian art.

Perhaps the most notable gallery showcases five Bispo two-sided textiles made from beautifully yellowed old sheets. Some current list of names. Another outlines the shape of Brazil surrounded by state names and small geometric figures. The most fascinating details the life of the navy, beginning with a fleet of warships. They travel deep into Bispo’s memories, revealing his talents, knowledge and worldliness.

There are recreational equipment such as barracks, warehouses, and separate chessboards and pool tables, but there are also scenes that look like military drills. Embassy Row is evoked by a stately building covered in dark yellow thread with foreign names and flags. A group of men extract from the earth and carry away this same mass of yellow thread. It can be a natural resource such as gold or oil. Bispo seems to have noticed everything.

If he considers himself more of a savior than an artist, Bispo certainly deserves an extended hyphenation.

Bispo do Rosario: All Substances on Earth

through May 20, America’s Society, 680 Park Avenue, Manhattan, (212) 249-8950. as-coa.org.

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