Review: Orixas by Gustavo Nazareno at the Opera Gallery in London

There is something about the greatness of self-taught artists that makes you stop and think. All the old masters – Titian, Raphael, Da Vinci – were trained in their youth and worked as assistants to famous artists to learn their craft before participating in workshops and learning from other artists, but self-taught artists then and now relied on books and self-reliance. learning to achieve greatness. And greatness is this le mot juste when it comes to the breathtaking and magnificent work of Brazilian artist Gustavo Nazareno, whose exhibition Orixas: Personal Accounts of Portraiture is on view at the Opera Gallery in London until November 9th.

You might call Nazareno a self-taught artist—his creative path began with books—but the sixteen paintings and twenty-five charcoal drawings on display demonstrate a range of influences, academic and otherwise. He is inspired by the characteristics and traditions of Afro-Latin religions (Candomblé, Santeria and Vodou). Several deities are depicted, proud and elusive, refusing to meet the viewer’s gaze. Like the Renaissance, they wear luxurious silks and satins, the folds of which are visible through light and shadow. Along with Renaissance and Baroque painting, Nazareno draws inspiration from the aesthetics of fashion photography and haute couture. His figures are stately and lithe, with elongated limbs and beautiful posture, and they are positioned in such a way that, like models, they dominate the canvases, attracting our attention while remaining silent, glamorous and mysterious.

More broadly, Nazareno’s work explores the use of religious iconography, society’s penchant for worship, and the space between good and evil that Candomblé religion celebrates in human nature. This is vividly depicted in light and shadow: while the deities watch silently from their paintings, the backgrounds (“not real, but imaginary,” Nazareno explained to me) are barren, lonely and devoid of human activity. No buildings are shown – instead there are rocky terrain and cool-toned landscapes. Muted background colors make the foreground brighter; The deities depicted are truly eye-catching with their jeweled robes and smooth skin.

As an artist, Gustavo Nazareno is notable for his process: it involves the use of textile art and scenery to create Tableau Vivants, which then serve as references for his visual images. It was explained to me that Nazareno uses maquettes to work out the poses of his figures, rather than live models or photographs, and then covers the maquettes with pieces of fabric to see where the light hits. Thanks to a unique painting and drawing technique in which Nazareno applies coal dust onto paper with his fingertips in his dark studio, lit only by candlelight, his works evoke a mysterious tenebrism in form and content. By avoiding electric lighting, Nazareno gives us an idea of ​​how the old masters of the Renaissance might have worked.

However, from a narrative perspective, Nazareno’s depicted works are not based on any book or literary source. Rather, the artist’s work is based on fables he has written that draw inspiration from the Orixas pantheon, a system of beings worshiped in religions in parts of Africa and Latin America. “He’s seriously squinting,” Nazareno jokes to me when I notice that one of his deities refuses to meet the viewer’s gaze. According to the teachings of Orishas, ​​orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator Olodumare to help humanity and teach us how to succeed on Aya (Earth). According to the indigenous religion of the Yoruba people, most orishas previously existed in Oruna – the spiritual world – and then became Irunmol – divine beings who incarnated as humans on Earth. The Orishas were brought to much of the New World as a result of the transatlantic slave trade and are now expressed in practices as diverse as Haitian Vodou, Santería, Candomblé, Trinidad Orisha, Umbanda, and Oyotunji, among others. Their influence is geographically widespread. The concept of Orisa is similar to the concepts of deities in the traditional religions of the Bini people of Edo State in southern Nigeria, the Ewe people of Benin, Ghana and Togo, and the Fon people of Benin.

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Thus, Orishas: Personal Narratives of Portraiture invites deep thought and reflection. It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to come face to face with such noble deities as Oryxas, and Nazareno’s Renaissance-style works can charm and delight even the most jaded and hard-hearted of viewers. Your eyes can’t help but follow the lines of the composition—gliding over the graceful physical forms of these divine characters, with their stately posture and radiant skin. Just don’t expect the artist’s orishas to meet your gaze. If you do, you will be disappointed.

Gustavo Nazareno”Orishas: Personal Accounts of Portraitureat the Opera Gallery in London until November 9.