André Griffo

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Barra Mansa, RJ, 1979. – Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Represented by Athena Contemporânea galery.
PIPA prize 2014, 2018 e 2019 nominee.

André Griffo lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. He holds a degree in Architecture and Urbanism and has been working in Visual Arts since 2009. Amongst his solo shows are: “Objetos sobre Arquitetura Gasta” (2017), Centro Cultural São Paulo, Brazil; “Pending Interventions in Mixed Structures” (2015), Palácio das Artes, Brazil; “Commando” (2013), via Fernanda Perracini Milani’s Art Gallery public call, Jundiaí City Hall, SP. Group shows: “Imagined Community”, 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo, 2019); “Ao Amor do Público I – Doações da ArtRio (2012-2015) e MinC/Funarte” (2016), Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Brazil; “Instabilidade Estável” (2014), curated by Juliana Gontijo, Paço das Artes, Brazil. In 2013, the artist participated in the ‘Programa de Aprofundamento’ at Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (RJ, Brazil), taught by Anna Bella Geiger, Fernando Cocchiarale and Marcelo Campos.

Note on the artist’s works in the collection:
Since 2017 we have tried to acquire a work by the artist. In 2018 we bought the oils on the canvas “The coup, the prison and other maneuvers incompatible with democracy” and “Forced approximation”, both produced that year.

In 2020, André Griffo participated in PIPA Em Casa, with the screen “The seller of miniatures”, presenting immersively through a video. We were enchanted and acquired for the collection.

Loan for exhibitions at other institutions: The work “The coup, the prison and other maneuvers incompatible with democracy” was loaned for the exhibition “With the air too heavy to breathe”, curated by Lisette Lignado, at Galeria Athena, from September to November 2018 and also for the exhibition of the works selected for the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil.

Closer to PIPA: the artist speaks in the Institute’s collection

“Aproximação Forçada”, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 194 x 290cm

“In Brazil, freedom of belief and worship was ensured by the 1890 constitution. The decree made the state’s secularity official by revoking the Imperial Constitution that made the Catholic Religion official. Even after such a change, the coexistence between groups of different beliefs continued to be characterized by colonial conduct opposed to the principles of freedom and tolerance determined by the new law. This historic clash has intensified in recent years, to the point that in 2017, at the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, political representatives of conservative Christian groups tried to organize legal ways to ban Afro-religious demonstrations in public places. Images of Christian saints and elements of Candomblé cults, which make up this painting, symbolically carry the rites and values of two religious groups, whose forced approach during the colonization process gave rise to a new society that, although mixed, is structured by the culture of segregation”. – André Griffo