Cao Guimarães

Cao Guimarães' work stems from an expansive approach to cinema, which began during a formative period in Brazilian video art. The artist operates at the intersection of cinema and visual arts.

Cao Guimarães' Art Style

Cao Guimarães moves from super-8 film to video, bridging connections with visual arts while employing cinematic language. His imagery captures a catalogue of unique and visually captivating moments from everyday life like ants transporting confetti after Carnival or soap bubbles drifting through empty corridors of a house. Always striving to document the ordinary, the artist endeavors to uncover poetry in places where it might not be immediately apparent.

Guimarães also explores photography, particularly in his series Gambiarras, which delves into the inventive culture of repurposing objects to solve everyday problems. Despite the static nature of photography, the seriality in Guimarães' works creates a sense of sequence and juxtaposition among still images, echoing the narrative elements of a film.

Exhibitions of Guimarães' Works

His work has been showcased at leading film festivals worldwide, including Locarno, Cannes, Rotterdam, Sundance, and Venice. Additionally, it has been displayed and collected by prestigious museums such as the Tate Modern in London, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Inhotim Institute in Belo Horizonte, the Jumex Collection in Mexico City, and the Fondation Cartier in Paris.

Guimarães' solo exhibitions include "Espera" at Instituto Moreira Salles - Paulista (IMS-Paulista) in São Paulo (2018), "Festival Cao Guimarães" at Nara Roesler in São Paulo (2017), "Retroatos" at Nara Roesler in Rio de Janeiro (2016), "Después" at Galerie Xippas in Punta del Este (2016), "Estética da gambiarra" at Sesc Interlagos in São Paulo (2015), and many more. 

The artist also took part in significant exhibitions including the XXV and XXVII São Paulo Biennials in Brazil, the Insite Biennial 2005 in Mexico, and the Sharjah Biennial 11 Film Programme in the United Arab Emirates.