Oscar Araripe

Who is Oscar Araripe?

Oscar Araripe (b. Rio de Janeiro, 19 July 1941), Brazilian writer and painter. Graduated in 1968 from the Faculdade Nacional de Direito (Law Faculty) of Rio de Janeiro, elected to the Board of the Centro Acadêmico Cândido de Oliveira (CACO), he was an activist during the military regime in the movement Ação Popular (AP). He gained a scholarship at the Pro-Deo University in Rome, Italy, and attended seminars while at Harvard University, USA. Working as a cultural journalist for Correio da Manhã, Jornal do Brasil and Última Hora, he wrote the essay “China, o Pragmatismo Possível” (China, Possible Pragmatism), in 1974 and, with Augusto Rodrigues, edited the journal Arte e Educação. He is a founding member of INSEA, the International Society for Education through Art. Author of the literary trilogy Maria, Marta e Eu, his work has been analyzed by Antônio Houaiss, Eduardo Portela, José Paulo Moreira da Fonseca, Márcio Souza and Vladimir Palmeira. In the field of painting, he introduced nautical sailcloth (dracon polyester) as a canvas (1984), laser film (as a substitute for tracing paper, another of his innovations) and developed his own techniques, such as transparencies obtained by the paintings behind the canvas, the use of markers and of acrylic watercolor. Innovations like this have allowed him to exhibit large canvases out of doors, using iron structures as a frame. His work Extinção Nunca Mais (No More Extinction), exhibited during the United Nations Conference, Eco-92, in the Botanical Gardens of Rio de Janeiro, reached a public of about 2 million people. As a landscape, seascape, realist and subjective painter, he possesses a vast body of work, currently being catalogued by the Foundation that bears his name. His paintings and drawings, new and innovative, joyful and extremely lively, have attracted the attention of critics such as Frederico de Moraes, Jean Boghici, Sérgio Rouanet, Luiz Galdino, Mário Margutti, Milton Ribeiro, Fernando Lemos, Tertuliano dos Passos, Marylka Mendes, Wilson Lima and Gustavo Praça. Particularly notable works include Os Pilares (The Pillars), of 1200 images, and his pen-and-ink city portraits of Tiradentes, São João del Rei and Ouro Preto, as well as of scenes in the states of Bahia and Ceará; it is also worth mentioning his magnificently pure erotic works. He has depicted three great Brazilian heroes: Tiradentes, Bárbara de Alencar and Tristão Araripe. He is cited in the Bibliography of the Grande Dicionário Aurélio of Portuguese Language and has an entry in the Enciclopédia da Literatura Brasileira, by Afrânio Coutinho. He is also cited in the Itau Enciclopedia of Brazilian Visual Arts. He is currently writing Minha Vida de Pintor (My Life as Painter), which is available on his site www.oscarararipe.com.br, in which he presents his ideas on painting, literature and life in general. His work has appeared in almost one hundred exhibitions, mostly alone, in Rio, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Brasília, Ceará and São Paulo. Abroad, he has exhibited in the United States, France, Spain, Slovenia, Cuba and Mexico. He has owned a gallery in Tiradentes since 1992, and is president of the Oscar Araripe Foundation www.oafundacao.org.br , also based in that town. He is married to Cidinha Ribeiro de Alencar Araripe. This year he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Tiradentes, was elected for the São João Del Rei Literary Academy, for the Historical and Geografic Institute of São João del Rei city and in November took partl at the Chapingo Biennal in Mexico.