Ocupação Itaú Cultural

Now in its 12th edition, the Ocupação program will show us cartoonist Angeli’s universe, through political cartoons, illustrations, comic strips, comic books, posters and magazines. Of the 30,000 works he produced over the course of his career, some 800 are on show in the exhibition, and 80 are original.

The program’s main feature is to highlight elements of the creative process of artists deemed to be icons in their fields of expression. Part of Angeli’s working environment has therefore been created as the setting for the exhibition, designed by set designer and architect Patrícia Rabbat, under the curatorship of Carolina Guaycuru, herself an architect and graphic designer. To wander through this setting is to watch the artist in his working environment.

Angeli, with his multifaceted production, charged with meaning, is known for his ironic view of daily life in São Paulo, whether creating controversial comic strip characters or lending his acerbic humor to political cartoons, whether editing Chiclete com Banana magazine (no longer in print), or criticizing himself in a series of caricatures in which he is his own character. However, Angeli has a less controversial side: he also devotes his talent to illustrating posters for films and plays, and uses his draftsmanship to show his appreciation of jazz. All these facets are in evidence, as well as sketches and essays.

The exhibition also displays photographs from his personal collection, and pieces that pay homage to the artist’s work, such as the restored sets to the animation Dossiê Rê Bordosa, a short feature directed by Cesar Cabral, and the video specially produced for the event, with commentary by the cartoonist who goes into detail on his working process, as recorded by musical producer, sound effects artist and graphic artist Pedro Angeli.

Ocupação is another initiative by Itaú Cultural to recover and preserve Brazil’s artistic memory, as well as supporting the digitization, organization and edition of collections belonging to the artists who it celebrates. Set up in 2009, the program has already highlighted Nelson Leirner, Chico Science, Zé Celso, Regina Silveira, Abraham Palatnik, Rogério Sganzerla, Paulo Leminski, Haroldo de Campos, Flávio Império, Cildo Meireles and Ballet Stagium.

Itaú Cultural