Marcelo Amorim's work investigates the often aggressive and invasive construction of the kind of male identity destined to lead within white and phallocentric societies. The central themes of Amorim's work are 1) family & school education; 2) socialisation rituals; 3) initiation rituals; 4) sport & the gym; 5) the military & war; and 6) work environments. And they are all approached with astuteness and an inquisitive spirit to highlight that hegemony is a mode of social, political and cultural structuring in the West.
This investigation is made through a longstanding archival research in books, newspapers and magazines on the subject matters, similar to that executed by German Master Gerhard Richter to build is famous work ‘Atlas’; a research which Amorim turns into majestic canvases where nostalgia and the language of colour mingle with a rigorous conceptual framework.
Watch now this video where Dr. Kalinca Costa Söderlund, art historian and art critic interviews Marcelo Amorim. The theme of this interview is: "Fighting power structures in Brazil, calling attention to the entrenched mechanism of perpetuation of the hegemonic".
Amorim's work represents an original counterpoint to practices that directly explore the theme of social minorities in Brazil, where recent radicalisation to the right has resulted in new waves of racism, homophobia, and discrimination against women. In other words, Amorim, instead of exploring the dimension of the dominated and issues such as the rights, the cultural histories and the need for emancipation of historically oppressed people, investigates - in an ironically caustic way - the ideology that shapes the ethics, the body and the vision of the dominant.
At the same time, Amorim’s work is an act of global political resistance thanks to its explicit references to social categorisations such as those crystallised in the terms 'working class' or 'LGBTQIA culture'.
Amorim was one of the artists nominated for the 2010 PIPA Prize. In 2019 he had a solo show at the Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto (MARP), and, Zipper Galeria, gave him a solo show in 2016. Other highlights in the gallery world were his solo show 'Intervalo' at Jaqueline Martins in São Paulo and his presence in the group show at Luciana Caravello Arte Contemporânea in Rio de Janeiro (2014). His work has been exhibited at Casa do Brasil in Madrid (2018) and in Brussels (2017), as well as at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati (2017) and at Kunst im Kulturflur in Berlin (2011).
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