Newcity Brazil

Visual Art Culture of São Paulo and Beyond

True Colors: An Interview with Fernando Stickel on José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira

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by Cynthia Garcia
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José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira, “Untitled,” 1990, acrylic on canvas, 28′ x 35’/Photo: Galeria MaPa, São Paulo

At Galeria MaPa, for the presentation text of the solo show “Introspectiva” of the late José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira, the 2010 São Paulo Biennial curator  Agnaldo Farias, who knew him well, writes: “He was an artist his peers looked up to, most of them very displeased with the lack of attention given to his work.” Organized by gallerist Marcelo Pallotta, who also met the artist in the late 1980s, the miniature homage brings twenty small to medium-size paintings from the eighties and nineties as well as five works on paper from the sixties. The artist’s technique and lucid sense of discovery gave his work an immediacy and vitality, charged with interiority, explained by Farias through his palette: “He was hard to classify. First, due to his palette with vibrant, electric colors. His color scheme was very concise: red, blue, yellow, green, purple, colors treated in layers, gradations and mutual contamination.”

Visual artist José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira/Photo Ana Theóphilo

I remember him from the 1980s from the same gallery shows we both regularly went to back then, but I wasn’t as close to him as his friend, retired architect and painter, Fernando Stickel. Stickel, our interviewee, runs the Stickel Foundation, founded seventy years ago, as the second generation heading the socially conscious São Paulo-based organization dedicated to the visual arts. In 2011, the foundation published the excellent, soft cover “Um Boi abstrato,” in Portuguese only, with text penned by intellectual Gabriel Borba, and is now planning a more comprehensive publication in both Portuguese and English versions.

All his friends, his admirers young and old, as well as his collectors, sincerely hope the show at MaPa, that manages the artist’s estate handed down by his family, will be the well-deserved beginning of saving the overlooked, stunning work of José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira (1944-2018) for the benefit of Brazilian art.

Fernando Stickel (left) and José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira. Fundação Stickel, São Paulo, 2006/Photo: courtesy of Fernando Stickel personal archive

Fernando, what attracts you to the paintings of José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira?

Above all, it’s important to preserve the memory of the artist José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira. He was authentic all the way. The artist of artists, a master. His relationships, health, everyday businesses, family, nothing destroyed his essence as a true artist. When we were all young at Escola Brasil (forward-thinking art in São Paulo from 1970-74), some guys spread the rumor he had never learned how to draw. His reaction? He ignored it by continuing to paint powerful canvases and solving the issues related to drawing. It was his way of dealing with the issues that make his work so unique with the use of strong colors, geometric patterns and mainstream inspiration of domestic and familiar scenes, natural scenery, forests, waterfalls. I have four of his paintings I bought almost half a century ago…

José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira, “Red Shift,” 2006, acrylic on canvas, 33′ x 47’/Photo: Galeria MaPa, São Paulo

Tell us some of your memories of São Paulo’s early art scene.

I met him amidst the effervescence of the seventies and the opening of Escola Brasil. We immediately became close. We were together during our marriages—he was married to Leila Ferraz—the birth of our kids, dating, separations, along with our friends [artists] Dudi Maia Rosa, Carlos Fajardo, José Resende, Cassio Michalany, Luiz Paulo Baravelli, as well as [art critic] Frederico Nasser and [art collector] Augusto Livio Malzoni and some others. São Paulo’s bustling, early art scene was the background of our friendship. We all attended gallery openings, met at exhibitions and parties. In 1979, there was the founding of the Cooperativa dos Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo [São Paulo’s Cooperative of Visual Artists] and with it came more art shows and getting together in friends’ art studios to discuss art. I’m not sure if we ever were in a collective show together, maybe we were, I don’t remember. I met his father, Carlito, a funny guy, a middle-class family from the neighborhood of Higienópolis. José Carlos invited me to go along with him to get to know the real estate market. I took my kids, Fernanda and Antonio, to visit his restaurant Truta Rosa [Pink Trout], up the mountains in Mauá, where he moved for some time.

Left to right, three advocates of São Paulo’s contemporary art scene: artists Dudi Maia Rosa, Carlos Fajardo and Boi, Sunday lunch at Dudi’s house, 2012.

At the time, I remember it was rumored he had some psychological problems.

It seems it all began when he lived in Los Angeles in the 1960s and had a bad acid trip, its aftereffects would manifest from time to time over the years with psychological crisis. At the end of his life, the crises were more acute and frequent. He was hospitalized and we, his friends, created the WhatsApp “Amigos do Boi” [Boi’s Friends] and organized an auction of his work to fund his health expenses. The auction happened at Ricardo Kugelmas’ Auroras in June 2017 and in December 2018, he passed away. He was seventy-four.

Why was his work never fully appreciated in his lifetime? Do you think it was his shy personality? His timid approach to gallerists?

His work was greatly appreciated from day one by his peers, his artist friends, and a handful of art collectors close to us. He participated in major shows but lacked the skill to deal with gallerists—everyone knows the relationship with gallerists, art critics, curators is difficult and touchy. He was not the kind of person willing to subject himself to the market game. Frankly, I believe he didn’t even know how to play it. His work is of utmost importance and was very under-promoted, but it certainly deserves a comprehensive retrospective and more books. The Fundação Stickel has created a cultural incentive project aimed at a new publication.

José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira, “Untitled,” circa 1980, acrylic on canvas, 76′ x 56’/Photo: Galeria MaPa, São Paulo

So tell us about his only book “José Carlos Boi Cezar Ferreira, um Boi Abstrato,” your foundation published in 2010.

We decided to publish it because there were very few records on his oeuvre. Following an art show of his work in our space, we published the book written by my friend, expert Gabriel Borba, published by J.J. Carol Editora.

Give us an overview of his present retrospective show at MaPa gallery.

MaPa’s founder Marcelo Pallotta has an amazing eye of capturing high-quality art and diving deep into the legacy of artists who were outside the spotlight, such as Boi. He got in contact with several collectors of his work, including me, and the exhibition was organized with critical text by our mutual friend, art expert Agnaldo Farias. I got in contact with several people I knew who had his work and we were able to gather a significant selection. In truth, it is a mini-retrospective.

José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira, “Untitled,” circa 1980, oil on canvas, 54′ x 38’/Photo: Galeria MaPa, São Paulo

Anything else you would like to mention?

Boi had another ability that is not evident through his paintings, it was his creative skill with words—he was also a poet, a linguist, an etymologist, Boi not only loved anagrams, but also created them. His sharp intelligence and sense of humor always fascinated me. His notebooks are stunning; they are proof of his privileged mind mixing visuals and words, drawings and brilliant thoughts. Destiny cut his life short. Tenho muita saudade dele (I miss him very much).

To wrap up, I wonder, where does his nickname Boi come from?

I’m not sure. Does anyone know?

José Carlos “Boi” Cezar Ferreira: Boi an Introspective
Through August 5
Critical text by Agnaldo Farias
Galeria MaPa, São Paulo
Instagram: @galeriamapa