Chico da Silva, the pioneer of indigenous art? the dynamics of reclassification of the artist from Acre in recent exhibitions

Abstract

Considered one of the main naïve artists in the country, Chico da Silva has gained particular interest in the arts system and market (national and international) in recent years. As of 2021, more than six exhibitions were held in the cities of São Paulo, Fortaleza and New York, including individual and collective exhibitions. In this context, a new aspect draws attention, the recognition of Chico da Silva as an indigenous artist. Based in Fortaleza in the 1920s, the painter from Acre, son of a Ceará native and a Peruvian Kampa Indian, has his work revisited from a different perspective of criticism, market and curation. There is, so to speak, a kind of rehabilitation not necessarily of the painter, but of his condition as an indigenous artist, placing him as the inaugural milestone of this position in the field of arts. It is, therefore, of interest in this reflection to understand how, above all, in the recent exhibitions held around the painter this shift from naïve to indigenous poetics took place and what criteria were considered for such conversion.