Marcos Zacariades' Epic Exhibition in Chapada Diamantina Reveals Brazilian Art's Hidden Gem

Marcos Zacariades' exhibition 'O tempo espelhado' is installed in the subterranean cave of Vinícola UVVA in Mucugê, within Chapada Diamantina. The artist, known for his formal rigor, lives and maintains Galeria Arte & Memória in the nearby stone village of Igatu since 2002. His work, first encountered by the author at Art Rio in 2019, was initially intended as a donation to MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio) but was withheld for reworking. The exhibition is described as possessing unparalleled formal rigor, political vigor, and intellectual force, constituting an epic argument for Brazilian civilization. It engages with the local context, including the Borré family's exemplary cultural patronage at Fazenda Progresso, which features architecture with furniture by designer Sergio Rodrigues. The project embodies a 'diagram of alterity' that thinks about returning art to society and incorporating the other as an economic subject. Igatu is portrayed as a place of modern women, like school director and confectioner Nívia and Dona Zelita, whose philosophy 'what is needed is preserved' titles a Zacariades work. The exhibition champions dialogue between differences from a deep regional center, posited as an exemplary world center where a great artist resides.