Arthur L. do Carmo Questions Why Artists, Not Dealers, Fund Art Criticism in Brazil

Writing for revista celeste, visual artist, curator and researcher Arthur L. do Carmo argues that Brazilian artists are being pressed to demand political statements from galleries, collectors and art advisors during the country's elections, while the market's silence on such commitments goes largely unexamined. He notes that commercial partners are typically those able to generate ever-greater financial returns, and that a market can sell socially engaged work without adopting comparable commitments. do Carmo describes sustaining an independent magazine before working with galleries, and says no text commission ever came directly from a gallery; artists seeking sensitive interlocutors have instead financed his critical writing. He distinguishes those who work with their hands — installers, transporters, technicians and art handlers — from those who manage capital and prestige, and asks why artists' survival depends on agents whose main activity is selling their work. He cites Ferreira Gullar's remark that capitalism turns even refusal into commercial value, and points to artist-run structures: Maxwell Alexandre's Pavilhão Maxwell Alexandre and Sertão Negro, founded by Dalton Paula and Ceiça Ferreira. He also invokes Ricardo Basbaum's artista-etc and Byung-Chul Han on neoliberal self-exploitation. The text is accompanied by photographs by Lucas Bambozzi of the Artes Visuais com Lula campaign.