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His artistic name – Santos – was suggested by professor Mário Schemberg.
“He was a sweet, simple person, and despite being a nuclear physicist he was also a great admirer of the arts and a respected critic, remembers Alfredo Francisco dos Santos. Born in Itabuna (BA) in 1934, he never forgets the day he arrived in São Paulo. “It was in 1952, on the day the greatest singer Brazil has ever had, Francisco Alves, died. I wanted to be a musician and used to play the guitar and the harp. But it was useless. I got very frustrated, because I wanted to say things with music, but couldn’t get it right.” Chance smiled upon him. “One day, I was visiting a friend’s farm and I kicked a stone and he said: ‘you are so talented (I used to work making dental protesis), can’t you make anything with that?’.” It was a piece of soapstone, which Santos took home. “It was the same kind of stone Aleijadinho used to work with. But it was only on January 1st 1971 that I took the stone, broke a kitchen knife and started sculpting. It was a revelation, because I felt I could express the things inside me through that stone.” All the pieces sculpted by Santos have a name and a story. Alfredo, the dental protesis maker, has retired, but Santos, the sculptor, is very active, writing messages and dreams through the paths he finds on stones. |
