Fernando Leite's 'Ex-ótica' at Paço Imperial Explores Photography as Guide

Fernando Leite's solo exhibition 'Ex-ótica' is on view at Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff. The show presents 54 works organized into four distinct series. Leite began using photography in 2007 for graphic design projects, later embracing it as a field for visual construction through editing and manipulation in Photoshop. His 2014 collaboration with Herkenhoff on the Pororoca collection exhibition at Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) led him to explore the Mata Atlântica as his natural territory. The series 'Igapós' (2017-2023) references black-and-white images by French photographer Marcel Gautherot from the 1940s Amazon flooded forests. 'Mira' (2020), a single work comprising over 20 oil paintings on wood, was created during the strictest period of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the sky as protagonist. The fourth series, developed between 2022 and 2023, features images of Cannabis flowers, inspired by Leite's personal use of cannabidiol (CBD) to treat insomnia, anxiety, and depression. He describes his relationship with cannabis as poetic and affective, seeing it as a delicate yet potent balm for psychic, pathological, and political wounds. Leite and Herkenhoff have collaborated since 2008 on over 40 major projects, including books and exhibitions. Leite values the artist-curator dialogue, noting Herkenhoff's text imbues the paintings with meaning, creating a vertiginous semantic leap that demands a significant response or new question from the artist.