The woman who rented me the room to use as a studio mentioned there was a Cultural Center across the street from our house. At the ground floor of the cultural center, is a coffee shop. The owner of the cultural center and the artist who's show was on exhibiton upstairs greeted me, and I didn't know who they were. I asked if there was a show going on and Anisio Couto was excited to show me upstairs.
I haven't done much research into who Anisio Couto is, but my roomate at the house said he used to be homeless before someone discovered his work. His work is really cool. Outsider art, with good compositional awareness. I asked how much one of his un-stretched paintings cost to buy, and was told about $7000 Real which is like $800 usd. But the woman who owns the cultural center, Denise, said she could make a deal for me. I just wasn't ready to invest in something so valuable just yet.
This isnt technically a museum, but more of an multi-floor exhibition space. Look at the glass windows on that side of the room though. Wouldn't this be the most awesome Studio?
I asked Denise about studio space she said she has some, and I was supposed to go with her to see the studios she had for rent. I never was able to do that because The times i went to meet her she was not there and the times she was there I was leaving and had to do something else. But I got her business card.
I liked looking at Anisios work. It inspired me.
It was just me and him in the space. The space was locked and not open to the public, he unlocked it and let me look at all his work. I dont know if he knew I was an artist maybe he sensed it.
He was a very kind and gentle man who did not speak much english. the communication we did was through hand signals and sounds that things make. I liked his impression of a cell phone, he made the ringing noise and it sounded like a bird.
His work was totally awesome and i was stoked on pretty much all of it.
The shapes are really cool. oh cool. i actually took a close up of those cat ones. i would have bought a cat one. i like cat paintings maybe because i don't have a cat idk.
I was asking Anisio how much he sells a painting for and he brought in Denise from downstairs. then denise told anisio to show me the rest of the building and the garden above.
The space above his was empty, and by the time we left there was an artist inside it installing a new show.
He opened the large steel door at the top to expose a very cool garden.
This was my first night at the new studio room so i was kind of in awe of everything at this point.
Its funny how artists (painters) can communicate well without even speaking the same language. We like to appreciate the same kinds of things.
Looking to my right there was a massive stone wall with plants growing on it with a building on top.
This cultural Center called Tropigalpão is very good and I'll mark it on the map as an underground "museum" to check out when you are in Rio De Janeiro. I was happy to be able to visit it and meet the people there.