Pedro Moraleida

The first retrospective of Pedro Moraleida's (1977-1999) vigorous and extensive production, interrupted with his early death at age 22. In "Canção do sangue fervente" (Song of the boiling blood), curator Paulo Miyada brings together a selection of about 200 works, from paintings to poems, which reveal the uniqueness of a work that did not fit any trend or time. With words, figures, colors and features, Pedro Moraleida built, according to the curator, an epic narrative from his great series populated with allegories, symbols and images of desire, castration and violence. His helm seems to have been the decision to disagree with any consensus, whether aesthetic, moral or behavioral,ʺ says Miyada. The artist's contemporaries at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in the 1990s were surprised by his dedication to painting at a time taken by conceptualism and installations. Pedro Moraleida rebelled against the conformism of his generation and against the 'smart' shortcuts that seemed to him to be at the forefront of contemporary art teaching. He decided that art must always be a scream, a joy, a pustule, a song of boiling blood. Feed on our unquestionable desires and traumas, rather than polishing the chrome surface of sophisticated environments."