With his paintings and charcoal drawings, the Brazilian visual artist tells us his own fables based on cultural, religious and spiritual stories revered in Africa and Latin America.

Gustavo Nazareno's works are captivating. This 30-year-old self-taught prodigy, who has lived in São Paulo for seven years, already possesses all the qualities of a master. His oil paintings and charcoal drawings draw on a multitude of artistic influences. He is inspired by Afro-Latin mythologies and religious traditions (Candomblé, Umbanda, Santería, Vodou), the spiritual beliefs of the Orisha deities originating from Africa, Renaissance and Baroque iconography (Caravaggio), and the aesthetics of fashion and haute couture photography.

His enigmatic images depict scenes from his own imagined fables, playing on the blurred line between faith, fiction, and research. In his practice, Gustavo Nazareno employs chiaroscuro, textile art, and scenography. He creates sketches that he then recreates as tableaux vivants by dressing miniature wooden mannequins.
This preliminary work serves as a reference for his visual representations. For this dramatic rendering between shadow and light, he works by candlelight in his studio, applying coal dust to the paper which he then taps with his fingertips.

BETWEEN AMBIGUITY AND DUALITY

Her visual universe explores the tensions and similarities "between fact and fiction, good and evil, God and man," probing the encounters and connections between human figures and deities. Her works unfold in portraits of figures adorned in majestic robes and ornaments, depicted in regal poses. The reference to fashion photography lends a sense of contemporaneity, imbuing "the garments with transcendental resonances."

This superb series, entitled Orixás: Personal Tales on Portraiture, was presented in his first solo exhibition at the Opera Gallery in London last November. “In this new body of work, Gustavo reminds us of the importance of finding oneself in a personal sense of divinity, giving form to a pantheon of Orixás whose posture and presence embody and celebrate the visual syncretism of Candomblé. I believe that living in the shadow of today’s world events calls for a growing need for spiritual grounding, and Gustavo, in the intimacy of his own studio, paints the return of our gaze to an inner dimension,” explained curator Samuele Visentin.
Gustavo Nazareno is an emerging talent to watch closely. While he has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Brazil and across Europe, in the spring of 2026, his works will be presented at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago.

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