Gustavo Nazareno, Bará

06 - 29 March 2025

Opera Gallery Bal Harbour proudly presents ‘Bará,’ a striking solo exhibition by Brazilian artist Gustavo Nazareno. Featuring over 30 charcoal drawings, ‘Bará’ delves into the spiritual and artistic intersections of the Afro-Brazilian tradition, honoring the Yoruba deity Eshu while drawing on the aesthetics of Baroque art. This exhibition marks Nazareno’s first solo presentation in the United States, alongside ‘Afro-Latin Baroque’ at Opera Gallery Miami.

 

Created as a serises of charcoal on paper artworks Bará reveals the artist’s relationship with spirituality and art. For Nazareno, the series is deeply personal. His journey as an artist is inseparable from his devotion to Afro-Brazilian cosmologies, particularly the figure of Exu. The genesis of Bará lies in a moment of desperation and faith—when Nazareno, struggling to find stability, created his first two charcoal drawings as an offering to Exu. This act of spiritual and artistic surrender ultimately transformed his career. This interplay of faith and artistic practice manifests in his work.

 

Bará takes its name from the corporeal manifestation of Exu, the messenger and trickster deity of Yoruba and Afro-Brazilian religious traditions. Central to Candomblé and Santería, Exu represents movement, transformation, and the crossing of thresholds—concepts that permeate Nazareno’s work. The series, inspired by the dynamic choreography of São Paulo’s Grupo Corpo ballet troupe, captures the essence of ritual dance, merging the ephemeral beauty of movement with the permanence of charcoal. Nazareno’s work redefines the boundaries between visual art, performance, and spirituality.

 

‘Bará’ offers a profound and visually arresting experience that resonates beyond the gallery walls. In encountering these works, we step into a space where the human and the divine converge—where charcoal becomes a portal to memory, myth, and motion.

Detail of Gustavo Nazareno, Bará # 414, 2019-2024 © GUSN Studio

SELECTED WORKS