EN_CHICO SILVA PÉ VERMELHO

MY DREAM OF BEING GIANT
(MEU SONHO DE SER GIGANTE)
Chico Silva
October 20, 2024 – November 16, 2024.

Pé Vermelho Contemporary Space
Planaltina - DF.
Solo show.
Curated by Pé Vermelho and Barranco Ateliê.

“My dream of being a giant" (Meu sonho de ser gigante) a solo exhibition by Chico Silva—an artist from Maranhão who has lived in Anápolis since the 1990s—is a production and curatorial collaboration between Barranco Ateliê (Anápolis, GO) and Pé Vermelho Contemporary Space (Planaltina, DF). the partnership reaffirms the truly insurgent gestures and the emancipation of our narratives from the Midwest.

The exhibition, held at Pé Vermelho Espaço Contemporâneo, presented a diverse range of works that Chico has been developing over the years. Featuring drawings, paintings, and sculptures, the show brings together the diverse body of work by this self-taught artist, including his most recent pieces created during a residency at Barranco Ateliê in Anápolis, GO, in 2024.

Francisco Sérgio (Presidente Dutra, Maranhão, 1970), also known as Chico Silva, lives in Anápolis, Goiás, and is a self-taught artist. He has been drawing since childhood and developed an interest in painting and sculpture over the course of his career. Since his teenage years in Maranhão, and especially after his arrival in Goiás (1990), the artist has alternated his artistic practice with working life in occupations such as farmer, laborer, carpenter, or factory worker.

According to Chico Silva, some works emerge when, upon observing an object—which can be anything from branches, logs, cardboard, sheets of zinc, or paper weathered by time—he finds himself inspired by the material itself to create a form or figure. “The point is that it’s already there; it’s the encounter between this finished work provided by nature and me—when my gaze falls upon it, it already communicates with me; it reveals itself to me,” in his own words.

At the same time, the artist’s work also has a dreamlike origin; the scenes depicted in some of his drawings and paintings are first seen in dreams, where creatures such as fish with legs and anthropomorphic figures with the faces of horses, dogs, or donkeys appear to Chico.

During his artist residency at Barranco Ateliê, Chico Silva worked on a series of new paintings in various formats and media. The works were created specifically for the exhibition “Onde a carne se faz chama” (2025), his first solo exhibition in Goiânia, held at the Octo Marques Cultural Center and curated by Paulo Henrique Silva.

Chico has been exhibiting his work since 2010, when he first showed his pieces and also won an award for his participation in the 16th Anapolino Art Salon at the Museum of Fine Arts of Anápolis. He has also participated in exhibitions such as the Bienal Naifs do Brasil at SESC Piracicaba in the 2014 and 2018 editions, exhibited in the show “Brasília, the art of democracy” (2024) curated by Paulo Herkenhoff at FGV ARTE - Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, and was part of the Panorama of Contemporary Art of Goiás (2024) held at the Antônio Sibasolly Gallery in Anápolis, GO.

Photos: Xablablau Produções / Sabrina May