Ivonaldo Veloso de Melo

Ivonaldo Veloso de Melo was born in Caruaru, a town in the state of Pernanbouc in 1943.

He began his artistic career in 1966, having his first solo exhibition at the KLM Gallery, São Paulo. He participated in the International Art Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, the International Contemporary Art Fair, in Paris, and the World Naïve Painting Fair, in Levallois, France, throughout the year of 1973.

The following year, he participated in the 3rd Triennial of Bratislava in Slovakia. The artist then resides in Europe for five years, exhibiting individually in cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Brussels, Florence, London and Trebnje. From 1980, he created eight individual exhibitions at the Jacques Ardies Gallery, and a last one, in 2006, organized in Zurich, Switzerland, in an improvised space. He won the second Prize of Excellence at the International Naïve Art Competition organized by the Galerie Jeannine Blais, Canada.

In 2003, he was elected by the Swiss public as the best artist, at the Swiss Prize for Modern Primitive Painting organized by the Galerie Pro Art Kasper, in Morges, Switzerland. He has works in major national museums, such as the MAC, the Masp, the MAM (São Paulo), MIAN (Rio de Janeiro) and, in France, at the MAN, at Béraut Condom, at the Rousseau Museum, at Laval, at the Anatole Jakovsky Museum, in Nice, and also in Holande, at the Stadof Museum voor Naive in Outsider Kunst. In 2002, Jacques Ardies produced a book about his life and his work, called Ivonaldo, Naïve Painters Brazil with a text by Professor Jorge Antonio and Silva.

This content has been translated by Google Translate.