Acrylic on canvas, signed

2012

Overall dimensions: 39” x 58” high

Menelaw Sete, Brazilian (1964 -  )

Menelaw Sete is internationally known as "The Picasso of Brazil".  Born in 1964 in the city of Salvador, Brazil, the artist began drawing in his childhood. In the mid - 1980's , the artist completed formal training in one of the leading art schools in Bahia.  He then began painting on a full-time basis.   He opened a studio in the historic district of Salvador Pelourinho shortly after.  His work drew the attention of many visiting tourists from the United States, Western Europe and Southeast Asia.  The greatest expression of Menelaw Sete's work is his innovative gift in transposing a particular reality, references which occurred in the 19th Century with the breaking up of the fundamental rules which supported the elaboration of a work of art.  Such references are to be perceived in his work, but they only confirm his contemporaneity.  One can discuss the question of cubism and neoimpressionism, in order to go on to a reading of his work starting with these movements.  However, only those belonging to these schools could say it is not enough for a deeper reading of his production.  One can detect an Afro-Brazilian culture in his work, a coloring similar to a tropical taste and figurative elements with which the artist chooses to compose his symphony that belongs to his world and to the things around him.  It would be restrictive to base an appreciation on old painting lessons which were well understood, but which the artist knew how to transform into an extremely current reality to create this form, a particular stoicism and poetic theory.  The greatest influence on Brazilian modern art was with expressionism, above all with the arrival of the Russian artist Lassar Segal, without forgetting works by Portinari, Tarsila do Amaral, and above all Cavalcanti, who represented a portrait of Brazilian reality, a sort of social complaint.  Of course other movements followed this one, while as far back as the time of the empire, figurative painting has always been strong in Brazil.  Menelaw follows this tradition, however, he does not repeat lessons, he teaches others, he uses cubist forms and develops a Brazilian character and breaks with its own limits.  In other works he recalls an expressionism which enchants through its color, its figures and how it elaborates its theme.  Known as the "Brazilian Picasso" it is more than just a name, Menelaw creates a genuinely Brazilian art, a mixture of races and colors.  As Picasso succeeded in expressing his own ideas and intentions, Menelaw tries to see how every artist, who is concerned with problems which develop the creation of works of art, must proceed in order to establish his own pictorial address and he does so with precision.  He lives in Salvador, Bahia Brazil, more precisely in the historical centre of Pelourinho, a national artistic heritage, recognized by Unesco.  In his studio in Via Joao de Deus, one can see his works and his total dedication to his production.  Now as a recognition of his work and as a result of his development, an exhibition hall with his name will be inaugurated at Sciacca Terme, Sicily.  He is the first Bahian and Brazilian artist to receive this honor.

FOB Los Angeles