After the cathedral, i made my way on foot to an area of rio that was kinda sketchy in order to visit a friend of mine's studio building where there was a show the night before.

He ended up not being at his studio that day so i headed towards the shore in Centro (downtown) and was planning to just walk by praca xv before heading back home.

Since it was so nice out and mellow, i had energy to check out a whole 'nother museum!

i don't have a photo of the building from the outside, but you can easily look one up.

There was an outdoor exhibit space that i was looking at before I payed the entry fee after getting a coffee at the museum cafe.

A giant paper painting mounted to a board with people sitting on a bench underneath it.

I turned to my right and saw such a little special installation piece that i really liked. Since i had been admiring the favelas as sculpture, i was stoked to see brazilians think the same thing. I was talking to my new roomate and he said that the artist who made this was actually inspired by some kids who were crafting thier own little version in the favela they lived in .

The detail on this was cool. they even built the rat-nest electrical poles you see everywhere. its funny how a single brick actually mimics the appearance of a favela house. like a Fibonacci sequence of a macro-micro visual relationship.

I entered the elevator and traveled upwards into the museum. the first exhibit was one of masks. I dont remember much info on it, plus it was all in portuguese, but they were super cool. they were gnarly.

some of them even had little light bulbs built in with battery connectors.

Then i entered into the main exhibit and was greeted by this intense hallway with black-light graffiti and favela funk music.

The main exhibit was simply called "FUNK" and was an expose on the origins and history of brazilian FUNK music, which is different than the normal "funk" we think of. inspired by that music of course, like james brown and such, the favela funk music is much more raw, and minimal. All of the songs kind of use the same drum beat which is like krautrock or revolution music.

(see comment section for the music)

But the show wasnt just about the music. it was about the culture of the favelas and the artists who live in them and the work they make. so i was struck by all the rad outsider artist-style work i saw.

Huge dance parties would morph into giant gang fights. where they would keep the music blasting but engage in crazy gang wars using melee attacks.

This would be a cool skateboard deck graphic for sure.

Lots of narrative paintings of very dark spiritual imagery. These are the things people have to deal with when drug lords run their communities.

Lots of demonic references within some of this work, mixed with fun-loving themes like love and dancing.

I went to the next room and there was a wall full of these guns made out of cardboard and other found materials.

modeled accurately to the real gun. the little kid inside me liked these and remembered how much i liked playing with toy guns with my friends in the neighborhood. actually, a pretty bug part of my life as a kid when i think about it.

The next exhibit was work by Bridgita Baltar.

Her embroidery work was very cool and inspired me to want to paint.

But little did i know i was in for an even more inspirational exhibit in the floor below. On display was a whole exhibit of artist:

Elisa Martins Da Silveira

...an outsider artist who made paintings.

I would love to buy a book of hers, i probably should have and maybe i still will go back to buy one.

her work in person was so good. Untrained in painting, her style is unique with rich patterns in narrative landscapes.

These are the exact things that inspire me about brazil. the patterns in the architecture, and the rich textures in the streets.

There was another artist's work on display along with hers but i forgot his name.

close up	full view

That concludes my visit to the Rio Museum of Art in March of 2025!