Antonio Henrique Amaral

As a response to the military coup occurred in brazil in 1964, amaral started to develop explicitly a political work with a satirical taste, including elements of popular and mass cultures, in which his set of woodcuts, entitled o meu e o seu (1967) was highlighted at Mirante das Artes (São Paulo), gallery in which Pietro Maria Bardi was partner. The period also marked the beginning of his painting work, having been carried out between 1968 and 1975 his emblematic sequence of canvas that problematize the motif of bananas as a national symbol. At Salão de Arte Moderna do rio de janeiro in 1971, he was awarded with a travel to abroad and went to New York, from where he returned to Brazil in 1981. Another highlight of his trajectory is the painted wall entitled São Paulo – Brasil: Criação, Expansão e Desenvolvimento (1989), installed in the main hall of Palácio dos Bandeirantes - the state of São Paulo government headquarters, result of a contest.

 

Over the course of more than six decades of artistic trajectory, Amaral has presented his work in several individual and group exhibitions both in Brazil and in countries of Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia.

 

His works are part of several important public collections in Brazil and abroad, such as: Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), New York, NY, USA; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, USA; Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), Washington, D.C., EUA; Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba; Instituto de Arte Latinoamericano (IAL), Santiago, Chile; Latin American Art Collection, Essex University, Essex, England; Museo de Arte Americano de Maldonado (MAM), Maldonado, Uruguay; Museo de Arte Moderno de Mexico (MAMM), Mexico City, Mexico; Colleccion FEMSA, Monterrey, Mexico; Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogota (MAMBO), Bogota, Colombia; Museo Nacional de Arte (MNA), La Paz, Bolivia; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), São Paulo; Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ), Rio de Janeiro and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo.

 

His work has been extensively discussed by Brazilian and international critics and curators, such as Paulo Miyada, Aracy Amaral, Jacqueline Barnitz, Damián Bayón, Sheila Leirner, Geraldo Ferraz, Vilém Flusser, Benjamin Forgey, Carreira Goldman, Shirreira Goldman, Frederico Morais, Roberto Pontual, Bélgica Rodríguez and Edward J. Sullivan.