“Untitled”

Having first graduated in philosophy and journalism in his hometown, then moved on to photography in London – a subject in which he won numerous awards – and later took part in an experimental film course in London, Cao Guimarães is considered one of the most productive contemporary Brazilian artists.

With an intense production since the late 1980s, Cao masterfully produces works that intersect cinema and photography. The artist has been invited to screen his films at important international film festivals, including Cannes, Locarno, Sundance, Venice, Rotterdam and Berlin. In 2011, MoMA hosted a retrospective of his films and in 2014, BAFICI in Buenos Aires and the Cinemateca de México also held retrospectives of his work.

He has made nine feature films: "O Homem das Muldões" (2013), "Otto" (2012), "Elvira Lorelay Alma de Dragón" (2012), "Ex Isto" (2010), "Andarilho" (2007), "Acidente" (2006), "Alma do Osso" (2004), "Rua de Mão-Dupla" (2002) and "Fim do Sem Fim" (2001). One of the artist's most beautiful and recent short films was the work "Filme em Anexo" (Film in Attachment) exhibited at the 34th Panorama of Brazilian Art in 2015, in which he recounts the conversations between him and curator Paulo Miyada about his project for the exhibition. The video presents some hypotheses about who the sambaquiero peoples were, responsible for the production of the artifacts.

“I think that a work of art lingers in the soul, it lasts inside us after it has ‘ended’. The moment after a film is still the film inside us. It is the ‘other’ (the film) acting on the subject, a sublime moment of transcendence,” comments the artist.

For the photographs exhibited at "Arte-Cidade III" (1987), he used cameras with few technical resources, creating images of peeling and weathered walls interacting with the concrete walls and the moss-covered floor. In 1993, he received the Marc Ferrez Photography Award, offered by the National Art Foundation (Funarte), for the development of the photo essay Ex-Votos, with Rivane Neuenschwander. In some of the photos in this series, he presents family portraits that reveal the marks of the passage of time, creating intriguing images.

Guimarães' works are included in numerous prestigious collections, such as the Tate Modern (UK), MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum (USA), Fondation Cartier (France), Colección Jumex (Mexico), Inhotim (Brazil), Museu Thyssen-Bornemisza (Spain), among others. He has participated in important exhibitions such as the XXV and XXVII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Brazil; Insite Biennial 2005, Mexico; "Cruzamentos: Contemporary Art in Brazil", USA; "Tropicália: The 60s in Brazil", Austria; Sharjah Biennial 11 Film Programme, United Arab Emirates and "Ver é Uma Fábula, Brasil", a retrospective with a large part of the artist's works exhibited at Itaú Cultural, in São Paulo.