Carlos Contente

Born in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The core of Carlos Contente´s art work is his own self portrait, a kind of homonymous but independent character of the artist. The year was 2002, the artist´s decision was to repeat his self portrait ad infinitum. He started using a rubber stamp and a stencil to paint repetitive portraits

Soon, Contente decided to draw narratives about a kind of character that is aware of his condition of a being made to be repeated forever; he is the protagonist of many narratives over blank walls where the drawings travel thru the canvas settled on it, such as in the story where the self portrait is trying to find the meaning of his bi-dimensional life and considering the possibility of the existence of an Author besides it all. In his path he cross all the wall, traveling thru an white and dirty canvas, having profound conversations with geometric and abstracts elements, such as a square and a brushstroke.

Closely related to the comic book culture, the artist creates different stories for his character, such as a hand drawn book in which “Contente” interviews the green color, discussing social, pictorial and existential issues. It´s through this small, oval shaped portrait and its endless repetition that Contente creates a character that seeks to understand the life and history of the surfaces hosting his existence.

The repetition of “Contentes” creates the artist´s own territory in bidimensional spaces..Each exhibition is like a story to be read;it has a main topic, and the artist tries to find how the narrative movement works in static spaces as a picture on the wall , surrounded by frames, contrasting with the flow of images and thoughts spreading over a blank wall.

Solo Exhibitions
2011 – Infinite Jungle (Selva Infinita) – Christinger de Mayo gallery, Zurich, Switzerland.
2009 – World buyers (Compradores de Mundo) – A Gentil Carioca gallery, Rio de Janeiro

Group exhibitions
2012 – Rumos Itau Cultural – Instituto Itau Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brasil
2011 – Brazilian Papers – Bendana-Pinel Galerie, Paris, France
2010 – A Gentil Carioca. Ein Kunstraum in Rio de Janeiro – (An art space in Rio de Janeiro), IFA-Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2010 – Like tears in rain – curated by Ana Luisa Teixeira de Freitas, Fábrica de Novos Talentos – Palácio das Artes, Porto, Portugal
2010 – Fugue Urbaine (Urban Runaways) – curated by Esther Bourdages, produced by Darling Foundry, Quartier Éphémère, Montreal, Canada
2009 – Nova Arte Nova (New Art New) – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro / São Paulo
2008 – I/legítimo – Paço das Artes, São Paulo
2008 – Zoation Painting, a pintura de zoação – Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz, Bolivia