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| Jesuys Crystiano, untitled, pencil on paper, 3/2012, Courtesy D&Z |
Pop in between October 5th - November 10th, 2018
In 2010
Jesuys Crystiano's monumental wall drawings, rendered on walls and in abandoned tear-down buildings in Ilhéus, Brazil, are discovered. They reveal a surreal imagery in an unmistakable, idiosyncratic style, drawn with a fleeting but distinct stroke.
The wall drawings are discovered by Thilo Scheuermann, a German hotel owner living in Brazil, who establishes contact with the artist. At the time, Crystiano is still living on the streets of Ilhéus and is cared for by neighbours. Exactly how he came to be here is unclear, since he can only remember his past in fragments. His biographical data remains uncertain. The year of his birth is chosen arbitrarily and determined by court order as 1950. We can assume that Chrystiano grew up in the municipality of Buerarema in the state of Bahia, Brazil, where he attended school. Presumably, he spent his youth in Rio de Janeiro.
From 2010, Thilo Scheuermann takes the artist into his custody. Henceforth, he promotes Crystiano's artistic work by providing him with drawing material and by photographically documenting the creation of the works. Crystiano lives here until his death in 2015.
During this time an extensive oeuvre encompassing drawings, collages and objects emerge. His signature imagery shows a complex, ornamental network composed of architectural, floral and figurative elements. Peculiar faces with prominent noses and cigarette stubs in their mouths, airplanes, buildings, animals, especially birds, umbrellas, upside-down chairs and tables, and uprooted trees are recurring subjects of his unmistakable drawings.
For the first time in Cologne, Delmes & Zander is showing the work of Jesuys Crystiano in a solo exhibition that will also include his large-format drawings.
