Le pêcheur, 2022

Nhobi  

NHOBI's works are windows that lead us to a remote world, into teeming spaces populated by strange headless-bodiless monsters, whose limbs take shape and retreat at the same time. And there was a bush there to look at, paint splattered into spots, where one searches frantically, digging one's way through dense vegetation. The artist's latest works reflect this idea and also offer us a game of investigation in the visible. We enter a forest of signs, and they move, there is animation, there are spirits moving in the background. The spirit does not crystallize there, the form does not capture the eye by fascinating it, it is the movements of its appearance which intrigue. And this moment of appearance, his research, also situates Fabio's work. Working on textures, working on the shapes with which he adorns his characters, it is about exploring avenues of access; voices to say. Faces in the trees, bodies in the cracks, animals in the wood, a house in a hair... The trace of a perception of the invisible which furnishes space and the moment. The pencil, the spray paint, the brush are the tools which materialize the interaction of the being with its environment. At the heart of the creative process it is difficult to understand the movement of this interaction; is it is the internal universe of man which interprets the moment or the hidden messages of the moment which nourish the artist's imagination. ? In all cases this work is also the fruit of an insurrection, an insurrection against the obligation to conform even in its interpretation of reality, an insurrection against a path of life imposed by a family for which art is not a profession, insurrection, simply, because to defend a difference is to be an insurgent. It is the need to dream and make people dream, to lead others into this invisible world populated by the imagination. And this necessity resonates like a revenge of the imagination on the world that is a little too harsh and cold which covers the streets of our cities. The themes covered can be diverse, from street urchins to Indian spirits, from urban rites and scandals to ancient traditions. And it is through all these themes that the Nhobi stories are formed: through the features of childhood emerges the unknown beauty of a few centuries past, that which has been transmitted to us throughout time by storytellers. It was first on the walls in Brazil that Nhobi spread nursery rhymes: tumbles of drawings, clownish portraits, apparitions on the walls, offerings to passers-by who roam the streets. Transform, cover concrete with colors, enchant public space, create an encounter. With his painting Nhobi becomes a magician. But in its turns there are no illusions, no other promise than the luxuriant image split with a crooked smile, an explosion of color and magnifying glasses. It is the language he uses to communicate and relate to other Brazilians living in France, the multi-taught artist continues to broaden his horizons, between wall panels, canvases, exhibitions, social projects and illustration projects, it is part of an intercultural approach, rich in meetings and partnerships, which reinforce the idea that indeed, we all, more than ever, need recreation.