José Bento

Brazilian, b. 1962

Born in Salvador, Bahia, in 1962. Lives and works in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Since the early 1980s, Bento has been working mainly with wood carvings, but also works in video, drawing and photography. Exhibiting in museums, galleries and cultural institutions in and outside Brazil, his early work developed through discussions between the plane and three-dimensionality, such as models and objects built with Popsicle sticks. Already in Trees, one of his best known series of work, the artist addresses material issues: the material that serves its own representation. The relationship between the architecture of the exhibition spaces and art works also proved a fruitful source of artistic proposals in his career, some site-specific. His most recent works dealing with the status of language in contemporary sculpture and discussions about economic and financial value in the art circuit.

In 2016 was invited to make part of 32 São Paulo Biennal. Participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, among them are: “Chão de Estrelas”at A Gentil Carioca in 2015, Electric Blue House, gallery Mendes Wood, São Paulo; “Correspondências” (Mailings), Galeria Bergamin, São Paulo, both collective in 2013; held a solo exhibition at A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro in 2012; in 2011, “1901 – 201 Arte Brasileira e Depois, na coleção Itaú”, no Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2011); “Poética da Percepção”. Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2008; Collection of MAP in Pythagoras Art Space. Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, in 2006; Galeria Bergamin, São Paulo, Brazil, in the same year. In 2004, displays his sculptures at the Art Museum of Pampulha – MAP, in Belo Horizonte. Joined the 29th Panorama of Brazilian Art, MAM / SP 2005, among others.

Sources:
Photo: http://www.galeriafirenze.com.br/?pg2=artista&id=81
Text: http://agentilcarioca.com.br/en/artista/jose-bento/?aba=biografia