2025 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Join us online for the 2025 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture.

Talks will present new research by curators Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, Kiki Mazzucchelli and Miguel A. López, drawing on the themes and approaches of the American Folk Art Museum’s exhibition Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets, which will be on view from February 12 through May 25, 2025.

With a focus on South America in the long 20th Century, this year’s lecture presents three painters who defied realism, capturing daily life at a time of social, ecological and political changes: Jose Antonio da Silva (Brazil; 1909-1996), Helio Melio (Brazil; 1926-2001) and Rosa Elena Curruchich (Guatemala; 1958-2005).

Art historian and curator Gabriel Perez-Barreiro offers new approaches to Jose Antonio da Silva’s vast and singular production, Kiki Mazzucchelli looks into Helio Melio’s forestial folklore, in which the Amazon plays a central role, and Miguel A. López highlights Rosa Elena Curruchich’s streamlined but nuanced perspective on Mayan society.

The Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture Series highlights new and important contributions to the field of folk and self-taught art. This annual series honors the late Anne Hill Blanchard, an inspiring and passionate leader in the field and a devoted supporter of the American Folk Art Museum.

Schedule

1:00 p.m. ET Welcome & Opening Remarks

1:10 p.m. ET Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro on Jose Antonio da Silva (Brazil; 1909-1996)

1:40 p.m. ET Kiki Mazzucchelli on Helio Melio (Brazil; 1926-2001)

2:10 p.m. ET Miguel A. López on Rosa Elena Curruchich (Guatemala; 1958-2005)

2: 40 pm ET Q&A

Program curated by Mathilde Walker-Billaud, AFAM Curator of Programs and Engagement

Speakers

Miguel A. López (Lima, 1983) is a writer and curator. He was co-curator of the 2024 edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art. From 2015 to 2020, he worked as Chief Curator, and later Co-director at TEOR/éTica, Costa Rica. In 2019, he curated the retrospective exhibition of Cecilia Vicuña, "Seehearing the Enlightened Failure," at the Witte de With (now Kunstinstituut Melly), Rotterdam, which traveled to Mexico City, Madrid, and Bogota, during 2020-2022.

Kiki Mazzucchelli is a curator, writer and editor currently based in São Paulo. Over the past decade, her projects have focused on historical artists from Brazil whose work has been overlooked by dominant narratives - among them Eleonore Koch (1926-2018), Flávio de Carvalho (1899-1973), and Hélio Melo (1926-2001). Since 2022, she has been the Artistic Director of Galeria Luisa Strina, where she is in charge of the artistic programme and special projects; as well as the co-curator (with Filipe Assis and Claudia Moreira Salles) of ABERTO, an itinerant platform of group exhibitions held in iconic modernist houses.

Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro is a curator and art historian. He was Director and Chief Curator of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros from 2008–2018, and is currently Senior Advisor. He was Curator of the 33 rd São Paulo Bienal in 2018 and curator of the Brazilian pavilion at the 58 th Venice Biennale in 2019. From 2002–2008 he was Curator of Latin American Art at the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin. In 2007 he was Chief Curator of the 6 th Mercosur Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex, and an MA in Art History and Latin American Studies from the University of Aberdeen. From 2000-2002 he was Director of Visual Arts at The Americas Society in New York. Prior to that he was Exhibitions and Programs Coordinator at the Casa de América in Madrid. From 1993 to 1998 he was Founding Curator of the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art. He has published and lectured widely on modern and contemporary art from Latin America. He is a member of the collective ESTAR(SER), the Esthetic Society for Transcendental & Applied Realization.

Images

Left: José Antonio da Silva, Cotton Field, 1969, oil on canvas, 65 x 100 cm. Collection Vilma Eid.

Middle: Hélio Melo, Untitled, 1990, ink and leaves' extract on fabric. Courtesy of Almeida & Dale - Photo: Sergio Guerini.

Right: Rosa Elena Curruchich, Rosa Elena pintando caserío Chosij [Rosa Elena Painting the Chosij Village], ca. 1980s, oil on canvas, 15.7 × 20 cm. Photo: Juan Pablo Murrugarra.

Registration

Space is limited; advance registration is required. Please consider making a donation when you register to support ongoing virtual programming.

Instructions for joining with a Zoom link and password will be provided by email upon registration confirmation under “Additional Information.” Closed captioning will be provided in English. For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email [email protected].

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