Elian Almeida

Elian Almeida is a Brazilian artist, whose work has recently been showcased at ‘Demain Sera un Autre Jour’ exhibition in Paris. Elian seeks to explore problems of our contemporary reality, of race and ethnicity, social status and how these form social constructions in the modern day.

If you are interested in Elian’s work, please email all inquires at contatoelianalmeida@gmail.com

Artist Statement

I have always been very attentive and curious about the world and the social order around me. This is because the beginning of my career was marked by a constant process of reaffirming a certain legitimacy as a Black-American artist. Awareness of spaces that I could occupy coming from where I come from, with the colour of my skin has always encompassed a majority of my work and my practice.

In my creation, the research is centered on the aesthetic process around our contemporary issues and realities, the racial segmentation, my colour, my social status and its relationship to society. Otherness. In fact, my production is marked by the intention to split up certain themes, such as reconstituting the idea of a social performativity of the black body, of state violence, and of decolonization which is still a relevant and urgent issue, particularly in Brazil.

My research and my work go beyond painting on canvas. It is a lived experience, a daily exercise of observation of problems in our contemporary reality, as well as of worry, which runs deep through the social construct of my own body. It is from this personal experience that a possibility of creation arises.

Biography

Elian Almeida was born in 1994 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He graduated in Fine Arts from the UERJ Institute of the Arts and is currently studying Cinema and Audiovisual at the University of Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle. He conducted research for three years as an educator at the Rio Art Museum and exhibited in important art institutions in Rio de Janeiro (Parque Lage, Paço Imperial, Centro Cultural Hélio Oiticica). The exhibition Demain Sera un Autre Jour (Tomorrow will be another day) at Studio Iván Argote will be his first exhibition in France, however, his work is already largely showcased in many important public and private collections and institutions worldwide.

Selected Group Exhibitions

Amanhã há de ser outro dia/Demain sera un autre jour, Studio Iván Argote, curator: Sofia Lanusse, Paris, França (2020).

ESQUELE7O - 70 anos de UERJ, Paço Imperial, curator: Analu Cunha,

Marcelo Campos, Maurício Barros de Castro, Rio de Janeiro (2020).

Arte Naïf – Nenhum Museu a Menos, EAV, Parque Lage, Curator: Ulisses Carrilho, Rio de Janeiro (2019).

Arte Naïf - Nenhum Museu a Menos - Fala Performática, Curator: Ulisses Carrilho, EAV Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, BR (2019).

Mostra Memórias da Resistência, Centro Municipal de Arte Hélio Oiticica, FordFundation, Rio de Janeiro (2019).

Manifesto Afrofuturista, Caixa Preta, curator: Rafael Bqueer, Rio de Janeiro (2019).

Novas Poéticas – Diálogos Expandidos em Arte Contemporânea, Museu do Futuro, curadoria: Germano Dushá, Guilherme Gutman e Pollyana Quintella, Curitiba (2016).