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Agenov doesn’t hide the love and admiration he feels for his father, Agenor Francisco dos Santos, a well-known sculptor who was his teacher at all times. “My father was a quiet man, never spoke much, and wanted to have the children close by, learning. I didn’t want anything to do with art. At 15 years old I worked as an office boy, then became a private driver, worked for a mining company, but always ended up coming back home. There I had my father, it was a safe place to be.” One day Agenov says he made a sculpture out of soapstone that he thought was awful. “My father never said anything about it and the piece ended up in a corner. One day a client arrived to collect a piece made by my father, and he saw my work. He picked it up, dusted it off and bought it. I thought to myself: he likes to buy sculptures and monstrosities as well. I still don’t know his name, but that was when I woke up to art. I was 18 years old, I started imagining other pieces I could make.” From then on Agenov has been getting more and more successful. Known as the sculptor of emotions, he has travelled the world but always goes back to Embú, where he was born and where he still works. Now, apart from soapstone he also works with wood, marble, granite and is ready to start trying out quartz. Agenov says he wants to open a museum, like his father used to dream about. “I’m now making some sculptures in metal, so I can keep the originals. My father’s pieces are spread all over the world. Here at home I only have a few.” Agenov’s full name is Agenor Francisco dos Santos Jr. He was born in1965. His artistic name came to him by chance. “I found out that the name Agenor has a bad meaning – without birth or born with imperfections. I thought about Agenor Jr, but it didn’t really sound arrtistic enough. One day I received a bill where they had written Agenov instead of Agenor. I thought it was an interesting mistake. It reminded me of the words new (novo), and nine (nove), and that seemed fitting because we can’t be so arrogant as to think we are a perfect ten. And so I adopted the name.” |
