 |
Zé do Carmo (José do Carmo Souza), who is very well known for his clay sculptures, was born in 1933, in Goiana (PE). “My mother Joana Isabel taught me and two brothers. Almost everyone in the town who works with clay now, learned with them and with me. My brother João Antônio de Souza carries on working, but in Rio de Janeiro.”
Zé do Carmo now finds it difficult to work with clay so he has started painting. “My paintings are my figures. Before, my mother wouldn’t let me put wings on them. She didn’t like my angels with faces like ours. For her, angels had to be pretty, fair, like the Italians. It was only after she died, in 1974 that I started putting wings on my countrymen, bandits and figures of people like us. But it’s hard to live from art. My son is studying computer stuff, I don’t want him to make a living from art.”
Zé do Carmo supports his family with his art, and has strong opinions about it. “I don’t like to receive commissions. It limits the work. There is this modern trend where shops want everything to look the same. It kills art. Before, people used to say – see what you have and bring me the best. Now, you’re not an artist anymore, you’re a machine.”
His angels with their strong rustic Brazilian faces are pure poetry. But Zé do Carmo got hurt once. “I made a Lampião angel to give to Pope John Paul II when he came to Brazil but the church wouldn’t accept it. Maybe it’s because he didn’t look Italian.” |
