Alcides Pereira dos Santos (1932-2007), born in Bahia, moved to Mato Grosso in 1950, where he settled. Before becoming a painter, Alcides tried his hand at various occupations, ranging from shoemaker to barber to stonemason. At the age of 19, Alcides, acccording to Aline Figueiredo, “experienced the greatest revelations in his life: religion and painting.” He was evangelical and believed that art is a gift from God. Consequently, his paintings aimed to highlight God’s ‘divine gifts’ of the land, particularly the life-giving properties of nature.

Much of Alcides’ work from the seventies and eighties is comprised of these subtly religious landscapes, which are known for their serenity. However, Alcides is also known to have painted more explicitly religious scenes, such as his series of works depicting the creation of the world in seven days and other biblical narratives. His landscapes are often accentuated by geometric forms and small graphic details such as human figures - a feature that appears most often in his works from the seventies. These small figures, however, are never large enough to be considered the central focus. For Alcides, the emphasis is placed on the entire landscape as a kind of ‘macrocreation’.

In 1992, after years of searching and tired of the solitary and hopeless life he led in Cuiabá, Alcides fi- nally found his only daughter, Almerinda, with whom he had lost contact for decades. He settled there, in a favela in the suburbs of São Paulo. Weakened and with no resources other than the income from selling his paintings at ridiculously low prices, Alcides embraced a religious and leisurely life. His only great friend was the driver Toão Batista, a resident of the neighborhood, who selflessly supported him in the final journey of his existence.

Most of the paintings from this period were not inspired by nature, animals, plantations, or relation- ships with the world and the environment. Instead, they were related to technology and architecture: means of transport, factories, machines, constructions.

Alcides took part in numerous exhibitions in Brazil, and until today his works are often shown in Brazil, New York, Paris and Madrid. His works are part of the collections of the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Museu Afrobrasil in São Paulo, the Popular Art Museum of San Francisco and the Cultural Center in João Pessoa, Paraíba. He was also part of the notorious exhibition Histoires de voir, Show and Tell at Fondation Cartier in 2012.

Contact us for more information @wouters.sablon or sablon@woutersgallery.com