Belo Horizonte hosts an unprecedented exhibition by the artist Ramaya; find out more

With the theme "Masters and Influences: The Construction of the Look", the Belo Horizonte artist Ramaya presents 45 new works from July 22nd, at the Inimá de Paula Museum, in Belo Horizonte.

To Itatiaia, the artist explains how great names in art, science and culture dialogue with the present. "No artist creates from a void. Before each brushstroke there is a story built by people who had the courage to think differently, break limits and inaugurate new ways of understanding the world. Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Edward Hopper, Belchior, Juscelino Kubitschek, Homer and many others do not appear in the exhibition as characters from the past. They are still alive because their ideas still permeate our time", he says.

"What I try to do is not reproduce their works, but talk to them. Each painting is born from this encounter between memory and contemporaneity. It is as if each master offered a question, and I responded using the language of the present, with my voice. The result is not a reinterpretation, but a continuity. I believe that no master represents a destiny. Every master represents a direction. It is precisely this permanent construction of the gaze that the exhibition invites the public to experience", he adds.

Ramaya's works are developed in the language of Abstract Realism. He illuminates how opposites intertwine in his work. "For a long time, realism and abstraction were treated as opposing paths. In my work, they stop being adversaries and start to walk together. Realism offers presence, what we recognize immediately. Abstraction reveals what cannot be photographed: memory, emotion, silence, time and human experience. That's why I defined my language as Abstract Realism", he highlights.

"I don't just paint a face; I try to paint everything that exists behind it. The colors, textures and gestures dialogue with the emotion of the work as much as the fidelity of the figure. The visitor identifies the person portrayed, but remains in front of the painting because he realizes that there is something beyond the image. It is in this invisible space that I believe that art really happens", he continues.

Creative process
"No work begins on canvas. It begins much earlier, in a reading, in a conversation, in a film, on a trip, in a song or in a question that remains unanswered for days, sometimes months. My creative process is deeply investigative. Before painting, I try to understand who that person was, what transformation they caused and why their presence still makes sense today", comments Ramaya.

The artist adds: "When this research matures, the painting stops being a representation and becomes an interpretation. My personal repertoire naturally guides this process, because every creation is also a self-portrait of whoever makes it. Each work in the exhibition carries a little of my trajectory, my references and the way I learned to see the world. Painting, for me, is visually organizing questions that may never have a definitive answer."

About the exhibition, Ramaya emphasizes that "each work goes far beyond what the eyes can see" and that "painting is just the starting point".

"Behind each canvas there is in-depth research, a creative process, reflections, discoveries and a personal dialogue with each master, character or influence portrayed. The exhibition invites the visitor to understand not only the final result, but also the intellectual and sensitive journey that gave rise to each work", he points out.

Exhibition will feature exclusive QR Code
The exhibition will be held at the Inimá de Paula Museum, located at Rua da Bahia, 1201, in the Center of Belo Horizonte.

"I have always been fascinated by the idea that, often, we only know the finished work, but we rarely know the place where it was born. Recreating my studio inside the Inimá de Paula Museum was a way of bringing the public closer to this silent universe where the paintings begin to exist. More than showing brushes, paints and canvases, this room reveals the environment where doubt, research, experimentation and discovery coexist", says the artist.

"I hope the visitor understands that every great work is born from a process, never from an instant. The studio represents exactly that: the space where error is also part of creation, where an idea can remain maturing for weeks until it finds its definitive form. When entering there, I want people to realize that art doesn't just happen in front of the finished canvas. It happens much earlier, in thought, in observation and in the courage to continue building a new perspective", he concludes.

All paintings will have a unique NFC tag and QR Code. By approaching their cell phone or scanning the code, the public has access to content specially developed for the exhibition: the biography of the character portrayed, the historical context in which he lived, the inspiration that motivated the creation of the work and, mainly, the dialogue built by the artist with that master or influence. They are curatorial texts, reflections and reports that reveal why that figure was chosen and what conversation it establishes with our time.

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Source: CNN