Including the years of training, creative activity, and professional engagement, Bruno Pedrosa's artistic career covers almost forty years. His work has been the subject of essays and articles by many critics and writers of great stature both in Brazil and in Italy, where he has lived for many years, as well in the United States and in several European countries.

In full command of his means of expression and endowed with a keen aesthetic awareness, Mr. Pedrosa is now at the peak of his artistic creativity. His vitality and the intensity of his inner life, coupled with an untiring capacity for work, augur well for new peaks still to come.

The media he uses most often are those of oil on canvas, drawing and crystal sculpture.

Born in 1950, Mr. Pedrosa went to school in Crato and Fortaleza in his native State of Ceará, then moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he attended the Rio de Janeiro School of Fine Arts and pursued archeological and philosophical studies at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University. In 1976 he entered the Rio de Janeiro Benedictine Monastery, where he remained until 1980, when he resumed his life in the monastic world and his artistic career.

The years of religious introspection and spiritual life have marked his personality and his art. With its strong colors and variety of superimposed structures, his painting works with the physical elements of texture and color and with the spiritual values of the imaginary realm which, in their interaction and dynamics, transpire in all his works.

Mr. Pedrosa has exhibited his work at this Institute nearly thirty years ago. He now returns to present himself to the Washington public more mature and at a higher level of aesthetic expression and spiritual vigor.



A Word from the Curator

von Doris Nogueira-Rogers
        Artist and Independent Curator

"Abstract art is the most important contribution made to the history of art during the present century. Kandinsky was the first artist to create a completely abstract picture. That was in 1910. Other painters, notably in Russia, France, and Italy, were producing paintings, which had no recognizable object. Kandinsky, working alone, consistently and logically, developed towards the creation of what he called 'non-objective' painting, which continues to have relevance and influence today." (Frank Whitford). To understand how artists develop towards abstract art might be often a complex or difficult task.

I met Pedrosa at the Rio de Janeiro School of Fine Arts, Brazil in 1969. As one of his peers it was not difficult to walk side by side the charismatic individual, the storyteller, the young artist with a head full of "ideas". That was the beginning of a wonderful journey, little we knew. These 30 years gave me enough time to closely witness the growth of the man, the artist and his art.

As stated before by writers and art critics, who have reviewed Pedrosa's work, there was a definite time in his life when the artist leaped into new visions. It is true. To some it might be characterized as a new adventure. To me it is the embrace of a mature reflective creative spirit. What Pedrosa tells today with his art has no longer a direct connection with searched images from the world around us. The colors, textures and brush strokes, put together, are images of stories brought forth from the depths of the soul. Pedrosa's works explode with a brilliant palette. Confident marks, organic and angular shapes collide and plunge across the surface. White and black are used strategically to create volume as well as frame to primary colors and the soft earthy tones. With a rich and versatile oeuvre, ranging from painting, works in glass, and recently jewelry design, Bruno Pedrosa's work is "contagious".

Pedrosa, I am delighted to meet again. It is an honor to be part of this wonderful exhibition. My most sincere thank you to the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute for the opportunity to collaborate in the continued "celebration" of Brazilian art in the U.S.A..