Célio Braga

Célio Braga (b. 1963, Guimarânia, Brazil) makes emotionally charged and highly layered work that stimulates our sense of touch. Themes like love, sexuality, comfort and religion meet in fragile objects which, while they evoke associations with reality, also have an element of abstraction. Despite the colour, and sometimes sparkle, in his work, Braga is concerned with the suffering and fragility of human existence. Kunstmuseum Den Haag is showing an intimate presentation of his work entitled SKIN. WOUND. QUEER.

Skin
Physicality is a key element of Braga’s work in paper. He meticulously and painstakingly makes cuts in paper until he creates fragile works with a lot of relief. The folds, tears, stains and perforations produce a skin-like quality, complete with wrinkles, scars and pigment spots. These elements and shapes multiply in rich compositions that explore subjects like sexuality, religion, gender and violence.

Wound
Braga often depicts an ancient subject in art: the wounded body. His works often refer to openings in the body, like scars and wounds, and also tears and blood. Braga’s works do not depict any individual victim, but are instead a reflection of the vulnerability of the body, and the fallibility of humans. Using textiles, beads, silk and sometimes human hair, Braga’s objects evoke associations with the craft of tailoring or jewellery making.

Queer
The exhibition also includes several White Shirts. Braga collected shirts from his gay friends, which he folded until they resembled surreal dolls or paintings. He then breathed life back into them by giving them the name of the friend who had worn the shirt as a title. The result is a symbolic attempt to protect his friends from illness, suffering, loneliness, grief and lack of love.

About the artist
Célio Braga (b. 1965, Guimarânia, Brazil) lives and works in Amsterdam and São Paulo. He trained at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (1996-2000) and studied at The Boston Museum School of Fine Arts from 1988 to 1990.