Antonio Bokel
Antonio Bokel, (b. 1978 in RJ) Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
Antonio Bokel transits between painting, sculpture, literature and the aesthetics of urban graphic interventions. His gestuality and chromatic experimentation are features present in his painting, walking side by side with an informal curiosity directed at the universe of cultural symbologies and popular iconographies. One can perceive in his gestures a desire for aesthetic representation of chaos, something that we can observe in the rhythms of spontaneity and diligence, result of the frantic mobilities of the urgency of present times.
Thus, the artist's graphic expression becomes an amalgam of the visuals of the streets, magazines, advertising images, commercial posters, which have been forgotten and deteriorated by time, along with visual creations of peripheral identities that overlap on these communications. A work that adds the graphic and pictorial languages of the artistic field along with inquiries towards the urban and social imaginary in which we live. Bokel also proposes different plastic languages when approaching visual solutions that are influenced by different provenances. One can note in his paintings explicit quotations to informal historical currents, while at the same time making present geometric configurations of the constructivist rational trends. By activating this coexistence of almost opposing codes, Antonio Bokel reaffirms us to act in a postmodern scenario, where the accumulation of difference seems to make sense.
He graduated in graphic design from UniverCidade in 2004. He held his first solo exhibition in 2003 at the Ken's Art Gallery in Florence, Italy, where he studied photography and history of art. In Rio de Janeiro, he took live model classes with Bandeira de Mello and took painting courses with João Magalhães and Luiz Ernesto at the Visual Arts School of Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro. Over the last two decades, he has presented his work in Brazil and abroad.
Most important exhibits: 2012 - Gramática Urbana (Urban Grammar), Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center, Rio de Janeiro. 2013 - Transfiguração do Rastro (Transfiguration of the Trace), Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center. 2014 - Na Periferia do Mundo (In the Periphery of the World), Cultural Center of Federal Justice, Rio de Janeiro. 2015 - La Nature d'or (The Golden Nature), Mercedes Viegas Gallery, Rio de Janeiro. 2014 - Novas aquisições MAM (New acquisitions MAM), Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro. 2016 - Nada Além das Palavras (Nothing Beyond Words) Matias Brotas Gallery, Vitória. 2016 - Point of View / site specific, in the gardens of the Palácio da Pena in Sintra, Portugal. 2019 - Espaço entre as coisas, Galeria Mercedes Viegas, Rio de Janeiro/RJ. 2020 - Jogos Atávicos, AM Galeria de Arte, São Paulo.
Artistic residencies: AAAAA No Thing But Truth, Sid Lee Collective Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ARTUR - Artistas Unidos em Residência (United Artists in Residence) Lagos, Portugal. Cidadela Art District (Citadel Art District), Cascais, Portugal. Indicated to the Pipa Award in 2015 and 2019.
