History
The studio’s name traces back to the career of the artist and co-founder of the space, Valdson Ramos, the son of a folia guitarist, he grew up in northern Brazil, in cities such as Araguaína and Colméia in the state of Tocantins. Ramos became a self-taught painter, devoting himself to work as a sign painter at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The artist worked painting posters, banners, and building facades, but primarily by applying signs to the surfaces of embankments (Barrancos) along highways in the interior of Tocantins, emblazoned with campaign advertisements for political candidates in the newly created state.
Folia de Reis. 1997. "Pé do Morro" Community. Araguaina, Tocantins.
Valdson Ramos Collection.
Father and brother of Valdson, in the background, artist's intervention on the wall.
Araguaina, Tocantins. 1980s. Valdson Ramos Collection.
After moving to the state of Goiás in 1992, in addition to enrolling as a student at the Oswaldo Verano School of Arts (1993–94), a public arts education center run by the city of Anápolis, Ramos established his first lettering studio with his partner Sirlene Rodrigues, operating from various locations in downtown Anápolis until 2018. The duo expanded their work beyond signage and began creating murals for businesses, homes, churches, Masonic lodges, and theaters, while also hand-painting posters and billboards for movie theaters in Anápolis and Goiânia.
The duo’s studio served both as a space for producing banners and other work materials and as a venue for Ramos’s poetic explorations. At the same time, Valdson enrolled in Goiânia at the School of Visual Arts at the Federal University of Goiás (2005–2008), expanding beyond commercial signage and beginning to exhibit in institutional art spaces in Goiás.
In 2008, he held the solo exhibition “EU + O TEMPO,” curated by Paulo Henrique Silva, at the Antônio Sibasolly Gallery. He subsequently received the Acquisition Award from the Salão Anapolino de Artes in 2015, the Acquisition Award from the Salão Nacional de Arte Contemporânea de Goiás in 2022, and held his second solo exhibition at the Antônio Sibasolly Gallery in 2023, titled “Abaixo do Sol, acima da terra" (Below the Sun, above the Earth).
Gurupi, Tocantins. 2003.
Valdson Ramos Collection.
Circus Panel. Valdson Ramos Collection.
"Abaixo do sol, acima da terra". Valdson Ramos. Antonio Sibasolly Gallery. 2023.
In 2018, Valdson and Sirlene, with the support of builder Valdir Ramos—Valdson’s brother—built their new studio on the rugged terrain along the banks of the Rio das Antas, in downtown Anápolis. In 2023, the space was named Barranco Ateliê following a collaboration with artists Joardo Filho and Talles Lopes.
Construction of the Barranco Atelier. 2018.
Valdson Ramos Collection.