In cooperation with the visit of President Dilma Rousseff, and precede the culture art exchange between China and Brazil, the exhibition Roberto Magalhães: Solo Exhibition from the Renowned Brazilian Artist is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China and Embassy of Brazil in the People's Republic of China, and co-organized by China Arts & Entertainment Group and Beijing Fine Art Academy, the display will be opened from 11 to 18 April 2011 at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy.

        With the commercial and political development in China and Brazil during recent years, the two governments all realized the necessary of advancing the non-governmental exchange and cooperation on culture aspect, and though the communication to enhance the economic and political association. This is the first solo exhibition in Beijing of the artist Roberto Magalhães who is from Rio de Janeiro, Roberto Magalhães is a very talent artist since his early years, though his exploration on art as well as his study on philosophy, theology and the Buddhism, he always stand on the front row of Brazilian art. The artist had held several solo exhibitions overseas, his representative paintings as well as his colorful art career and his thoughts will meet the audiences of Beijing. We believe that the artist will bring a surprise.

          As a part of contemporary art in Brazil, the exhibition will bring more communications of artists between the two countries. We also hope the exhibition will make contributions for art exchange between the two countries.

         “Roberto Magalhães (Rio de Janeiro- RJ 1940) From a very young age, Roberto showed an undeniable talent for drawing, so his father gave him a box of paints and brushes, which prompted him to paint his first ‘canvas’ – a waterfall – on the street, right in front of his house. This was probably Roberto’s way of showing that his paintings and drawings would never portray conventional scenes, but rather his own universe of dreams, fantasy and symbolism, as was confirmed later on in his life.

           At twenty, Roberto decided to abandon his studies to dedicate himself exclusively to drawing. A few professional assignments came his way, such as designing bottle labels and small ads, which in those days were drawn by hand, with great accuracy and detail and were commissioned by an uncle of his who owned a printing company. His work began to diversify and include record and book covers, trademarks and advertisements, which were also drawn by hand.

          At the same time, however, he was developing other work unconnected with his commercial commitments and was able to put together a reasonable portfolio of “fantastic reality” pen & ink drawings. In 1962, he took these to the student board of the National School of Fine Arts for appraisal, and was given the opportunity to show them at the Macunaíma Gallery, which was part of the School. This initiated his relationship with the public and with commercial art galleries and marked the beginning of his long career.

          During the 1960’s, Roberto took part in several exhibitions, becoming one of the principal members of a group of painters who put on a revolutionary exhibition called “Opinion 65”, at the Museum of Modern Art, in Rio de Janeiro. Together with Antonio Días and other avant-garde artists who were prominent at this time, he introduced a new visual language to fine arts in Brazil.

          In 1967, he established his residency in Paris, making the most of the award he had received at the 14th Paris Biennale, fully experiencing the effervescent political climate that preceded May 1968. He took part in other exhibitions abroad, but after two years decided to return to his home country to work and show his art.

          In 1969, the questioning and sense of unrest that motivated the avant-garde artists of his generation led him to seek for answers in the world of mysticism and, as a result, he began to study Occultism and Theosophy. When he discovered meditation and the Buddhist doctrine, he interrupted his artistic work to help build the Meditation Center of the Brazilian Buddhist Society, with which he maintained close links over the next four years.

          In 1975, after eight years away from exhibition halls, he reinitiated his artistic career by showing his work and giving lectures at the Museum of Modern Art, in Rio de Janeiro. Demonstrating his singular style, and the influence of his esoteric studies, his work showed human figures, cities, animals and plants in a fantastic and imaginary style, uncovering daily life with humor and irony. Various techniques were used: colored pencils, quill and ink, watercolor, pen & ink, oil paints, pastels and ecoline, amongst others.

          In 1992, after several exhibitions of his work, the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro put on the largest exhibition ever held of the artist’s work, with a retrospective show covering the previous 30 years.

          Over the last decade, he has maintained a prolific career holding innumerous solo and collective exhibitions. In 2008, this creative painter presented a new approach called “OTREBOR-The Other Margin-Atypicals” at major art centers in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.