The catalogue of Romero Britto exhibition at the October Gallery in London May - June 1999 'Neo-pop Cubism'.

1. ROMERO BRITTO
J J E O - P O P
the October gallery

2. ROMERO BRITTO
NEO-POP CUBISM
13th May - 19th June 1999
There is an almost fairy-tale quality to the story of Romero Britto. As a child
born into a large family in Brazil, Britto combated the drabness of poverty by
teaching himself to paint filling every available scrap of paper with images
of a brighter, more colourful world. As a teenager, his pictures began to sell;
enough to fuel his artistic ambitions and provide the means to travel around
Europe, At twenty-six, his childhood dreams came true when he was chosen
to a d d a splash of colour to Absolut Vodka's high-profile a d campaign. This
incredible good fortune catapulted the 'unknown artist into the limelight,
7
Dance of Hearts, 1999, Mural Painting for the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, 122 x 305cm
placing him alongside artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Other
commissions followed: Grand Marnier, Pepsi Cola, Disney IBM, Apple
Computers and many more, ensuring that his distinctive style was recognised The label neo-pop cubism clearly indicates Britto's links with certain artists
x 7
by millions world-wide. Collaborations with leading fashion designers and antecedent styles. Pop Art was a movement emerging somewhat
extended his range, and his work was acquired by Michael Jordan, Arnold independently on both sides of the Atlantic between 1955 and 1965, as
Schwarzenegger and Whitney Houston - to name just a few celebrities - as artists incorporated into their work images of popular culture taken from the
well as by the Guggenheims, Kennedys and Mitterands. Today, at thirty-six mass media of cinema, television, comics and advertising. With its roots in
and settled in the States, the heir apparent of neo-pop cubism holds an Dada and Surrealism, Pop was a reaction against the prevailing artistic
oxlraordinarily bright future in the palms of his talented hands. modes of the post-war western world (Neo-Romanticism in Britain and
Abstract Expressionism in the States). The style flourished because, as one
critic put it "imagery intended for the fleeting consideration of a mass
audience said more about contemporary attitudes than easel paintings
executed for the careful reflection of visitors to a museum/ While British 7
artists such as Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and the early Hockney formed
Pop's vanguard, it was the Americans such as Lichtenstein, Rosenquist and
Warhol who best defined the genre. British Pop reflected a preoccupation
with the allure of American culture; the Americans, growing up within it,
knew better how to subvert it, exploiting the advertising industry's Midas
touch for their own artistic (and sometimes self-promoting) ends.
That there are Cubist elements in Britto's work should hardly surprise; few
artists in modern times have escaped the long shadows cast by Picasso
and Braque. Britto's style, with its figures formed of bright geometric
shapes sharing a common plane with a kaleidoscope of background
colours, has assimilated aspects of both Analytical and Hermetic Cubism.
Specific references abound. The Queen Chess (1988) a n d the early
mixed media collages confirm an admiration for Picasso. The One and
Only (1997) and the later still lifes show Britto's work revelling in that vital
energy that was the hallmark of Matisse while Van Britto acknowledges
the influence of the great Dutchman. As Britto's individual style matured,
a playful profusion of graffiti marks - scribbled flowers a n d spontaneous
whorls - c a m e to overlay the primary coloured stripes and polka dots. The
most inventive of these designs transform the glyphs of the artist's
Secret Garden, 1997, Acrylic on Canvas, 76 x 102cm Private Collection

3. signature Into semi-abstract patterns of great ingenuity. When Britto
decorated an entire Ferrari with these trademark signs, the stunningly
effective result was a measure of just how far Pop Art had a d v a n c e d
since the days of Warhol signing tins of Campbell's Soup.
The boldness of Britto's style indicates other advances too. In refurnishing
second-hand images with alternative contexts Pop fell a frequent prey to
nostalgia. Britto's art could not be more different. His work overflows with
an exuberant vitality and self-confidence seldom seen in western art
since Cubism - following the scientific discoveries of its time - threw
modern art history into a paroxysm of uncertainty. Perhaps the most
heartening aspect of Britto's art is its unrestrainedly optimistic outlook on
life, exhorting the viewer to rejoice a n d to c a t c h each winged moment
Doituj lain 7i.
1998, Silkscreen,
I (lili< >n of 300 on
Paper, 9 ! x I ( M e m
as it flies. Nor is this an affected cheerfulness that ignores pain a n d
sadness, but rather a positive determination in the face of difficulty a
brave refusal to transmit to others the negative energy of despair. Having
experienced the grinding struggles of poverty at first hand Britto employs
his wholly affirmative art as a counteractive force, using his access to an
international audience to highlight problematical issues of concern to all:
the destruction of the Amazon rain-forests, the intractable problem of
AIDS and the plight of sick a n d handicapped children.
Over the years Britto has lent his charismatic energies to many philanthropic
causes, working with organisations such as Amnesty International, Earth Tr< ill I
and the American Red Cross, and using his influence and resources to bring
hope to sick and disadvantaged children. Britto's playful work brightens
many a hospital wall, and his latest visit to London will see a large-scale
painting unveiled in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, a world
centre for paediatric care. In 1858, Charles Dickens raised £3000 for the
Children's Hospital with a staged reading of A Christmas Carol and in 193/,
J. M. Barrie bequeathed the rights to Peter Pan to ensure a continuous
stream of royalty donations as long as that children's classic finds a
sympathetic audience. In designing a vibrant painting to hang in the
Children's Hospital, Romero Britto joins an illustrious line of artists committed
to using their talents to foster that most valuable (and vulnerable) of all
resources essential to a brighter, more colourful world - the children.
© Gerard A. Houghton, April, 1999

4. ROMERO BRITTO - M I L E S T O N E S
1996 1992
Galleria Prova, Tokyo, Japan Stricoff Fine Art Gallery, New York, NY,
Art Americas, Nan Miller Gallery, USA
Miami, Florida, USA Candido Mendes Cultural Centre, Rio
Stricoff Fine Art Gallery, New York, NY, d e Janeiro, Brazil
USA The Rocky Aoki Collection, Tokyo, Japan
1995 1991
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
De Graaf Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
New Trends Hong Kong
Candide Gallery, Atlanta, GA, USA
Nan Miller Gallery, Hong Kong
Coral Gables Fine Art Gallery, Miami,
Suppan Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria
Florida, USA
1994 1990 - 1986
Art Miami, Nan Miller Gallery, Miami, The Mayfair Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
Florida, USA Wirtz Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
Kass Meridian Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA Queen Charlotte Hall, London,
Harrington Gallery, Vancouver, Canada England
Offens Atelier, Erlagen, Germany
1993
Public Works Department, Strangnas,
FIAC, Le Grande Palais, Kass/Meridian
Sweden
Gallery, Paris, France
Art Asia, Kass/Meridian Gallery, Hong
Kong SOLO MUSEUM SHOWS
Art Chicago, Kass/Meridian Gallery, Museu Nacional d e Belas Artes - Rio
Chicago, IL, USA de Janeiro, Brazil, 1998
Arte Fiera, Kass/Meridian Gallery, Museu d e Belas Artes e Historia - San
Born in 1963, in Recife, Brazil Bologna, Italy Juan, Puerto Rico, 1998
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS
1999
The October Gallery, London, England
Studio at Long Grove, Chicago, USA
New York Art Expo, New York, NY, USA
1998
Pop International, New York, NY USA
Hermann Krause, Munich, Germany
Nan Miller Gallery, Rochester, New York
Karen Jenkins Johnson, San Francisco,
California, USA.
Galleria Prova, Tokyo, Japan
Nature Gallery, Tumon, Guam
Galerie Jaeschke, Braunschweig,
Germany
Galerie Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1997
Sky Art, Knokke, Belgium
American Art Company, Tacoma,
Washington, USA
Vancouver International Arts
Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada
Galleria Prova, Tokyo, Japan
Suppan Fine Art, Vienna, Austria
Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Star Gallery, Bern, Switzerland Swing, 1999, Silkscreen, Edition of 300 on Paper, 51 x 64cm
the October galle
Fax: 0171-405 1851
gallery.ukgateway.net
ity No. 327032