“Untitled”

Born in the interior of Ceará, the artist began his career as a painter and engraver, following the northeastern tradition of woodcuts. In the 1950s, he moved to São Paulo to work on the 1st São Paulo Biennial and shortly thereafter held his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM-SP), which earned him a scholarship from the French government to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. There, he was able to study with Johnny Friedlaender and specialized in the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). During his time living in Paris, he gradually became interested in constructivist production and began to deal with more regular forms, drawing closer to Julio Le Parc and Jesús Rafael Soto and drawing inspiration from the ideals of kinetic art and concretism. His best-known series, "Excitables", was developed during this period, and consisted of acrylic pieces that moved when in contact with static electricity from the viewer's hands.

His time in Paris allowed the artist to achieve international recognition. Returning to Brazil in the late 1970s, he focused his production on monumental metal sculptures and, in 1986, conceived and organized the "1st Exhibition of Ephemeral Sculpture in Fortaleza". He stood out in several exhibitions, participating in three São Paulo Biennials, and a large part of his production (around forty works) is part of the public heritage of the State of Ceará. His work is part of public and private collections in Brazil and abroad. In 2011, the Pinacoteca do Estado organized an important retrospective of the artist's work. Sérvulo passed away in February 2017, in Fortaleza, shortly before his 88th birthday.