Exhibition "Ancestral Allegories" by Elias Santos

at the exhibition Ancient allegories We present a set of drawings produced by Elias Santos In 2004, belonging to the series begun in 1995, the presence of the Zambiapunga masks opens up space for an interpretation that connects the marks of suffering present on these bodies to the historical violence exercised against African and Afro-descendant populations in Brazil. From this perspective, the deformation of the figures ceases to refer only to individual experiences and begins to evoke the processes of repression that affected these cultural and religious practices.

Alongside his drawing work, Elias develops a sculptural investigation linked to the reuse of everyday materials. His early sculptures reveal an interest in cardboard boxes, fabrics, and common materials found in urban life, such as sandpaper acquired from construction supply stores and fabric scraps. The sculptures presented in this exhibition belong to two distinct periods of the same research, comprising pieces produced between 2010 and 2013 and, subsequently, between 2024 and 2026. In both periods, cardboard occupies a central place in his practice: a material that is simultaneously fragile and resistant is used both as a prototypical structure and as a constitutive part of the pieces. After modeling the volumes, the sculptures undergo successive stages of filling, sanding, and covering with fabrics prepared by the artist himself. The process demonstrates a careful relationship with the material, in which each stage of elaboration contributes to the transformation of ordinary materials into forms of great formal sophistication. Despite exploring different materials, his sculptures find unity in the attention dedicated to the construction processes, the patient work of execution, and the transformation of materials.

In the earliest series of geometric sculptures presented here, sober tones such as black, white, and gray predominate, reinforcing the structural and almost architectural dimension of the pieces. Their pointed and rigorously constructed forms evoke a reflection on the very nature of geometry, understood not only as an abstract system, but as a principle present in the constitution of the world. As the artist himself observes, geometric form is at the base of mineral formations and the molecules that compose living organisms and, consequently, organic forms.

As these sculptures develop, their geometric forms become more complex, alluding to symbolic repertoires associated with Afro-Brazilian religions. Among these references, the relationship that Elias Santos develops with Exu, the orixá responsible for communication between the material and spiritual worlds, stands out, whose presence is recurrently manifested in his formal and symbolic imagination. In one of his pieces, for example, the trident appears explicitly, blurring the boundary between geometric abstraction and ritual sign. These elements from the universe of Afro-Brazilian religions permeate the artist's visual repertoire and become incorporated into his formal vocabulary. Although he was not initiated into the religion, Elias began to interact with these universes, frequenting them and researching them after moving to Salvador, where he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts at the Federal University of Bahia. Between religious sites, popular festivals, fairs, and Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestations, this set of references became sedimented in his imagination, becoming a constitutive part of the symbolic and formal structures that permeate his production.

The most recent series of sculptures inaugurates a new phase in his research. In recent years, this has been fueled by an invitation from Galatea to participate in a group exhibition. pier (Galatea Salvador, 2024) and continuing the presentation of his works in the gallery, Elias resumes his sculptural production, incorporating more curved forms, intense chromatic layers and shiny materials, especially lamé, a fabric widely used both in Candomblé clothing and in Afro-Bahian carnival costumes. Despite the recent production, the investigation of these materials is earlier and dates back to his experience as an assistant in the making of adornments for the Afro bloc Olodum, between 2009 and 2010, when he had direct contact with fabrics, glitter and prints, preserving the leftovers of these materials for future experimentation.

It is in this new phase, presented in this exhibition through previously unseen sculptures, that her works become more sensual, vibrant, and luminous, intensifying their performative dimensions. Metallic fabrics, glitter, and shimmering surfaces project Afro-Brazilian symbols onto a futuristic horizon, uniting ancestry and imagination. The forms evoke inherited memories and cosmologies, reflecting a brilliance of the past as a way to illuminate new fabulations for the future.

Throughout his career, Elias Santos has transformed geometry into a field of investigation in which formal rigor, observation of nature, and Afro-Brazilian repertoires intertwine. In his sculptures, symmetrical rhythms, modular structures, and carefully constructed volumes evoke both principles present in the constitution of the natural world and symbols and cosmologies associated with Afro-diasporic traditions. In this sense, his work is close to a lineage of Afro-Brazilian sculptors, such as Rubem Valentim, José Adário dos Santos, and Ayrson Heráclito.

Whether in drawings inspired by the hybrid forms of orchids, in masked bodies that evoke the Zambiapungas, or in sculptures constructed from repurposed materials, Elias's work reveals a continuous interest in processes of transformation, in which nature, body, and ancestry connect in a single investigation. Between constructive precision and sensory exuberance, his works articulate past and present, permanence and reinvention, affirming his practice as a way of updating memories and cosmologies that remain alive and in constant transformation.

ALANA SILVEIRA She is a cultural producer, curator, and director of... Galatea Salvador

Service
Exhibition | Ancient allegories
From July 03th to October 10th
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Friday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Saturday, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM