Santídio Pereira's First Museum Solo at Fundação Iberê Camargo Explores Memory Through Large-Scale Woodcuts

Santídio Pereira presents his inaugural museum solo exhibition, 'Santídio Pereira – incisões, recortes e encaixes,' at the Fundação Iberê Camargo in Porto Alegre, Brazil, running from February 5 to May 1. The show features 22 large-scale works, including woodcuts exceeding two meters in height and paintings over 1.5 meters long. Pereira's practice departs from classical woodcut techniques, incorporating carpentry knowledge to cut and assemble wooden pieces like a puzzle, a method explained by curator Ricardo Sardenberg. The artist's childhood memories of Curral Comprido, a village in Piauí, and his later life in São Paulo form the core of the exhibition. Series like 'Pássaros' depict 22 birds from the Brazilian Caatinga biome through woodcut, while 'Morros' combines woodcuts and monochromatic paintings of landscapes from regions like Santo Antônio do Pinhal, Serra da Bocaina, and Serra da Cantareira. Pereira's choice of monumental formats is driven by an interest in color's impact, aiming to transmit collective memories and celebrate Brazilian culture and nature. The exhibition follows the artist's participation in significant group shows at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris, the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. A talk hosted by the Fundação Iberê Camargo in partnership with the Instituto Ling featured the artist discussing his work.