Arthur Bispo do Rosario: All Existing Materials on Earth

My mission is this: to get what I have, so that the next day I can represent the existence of Earth. It is the meaning of my life….And in my representation I will receive many gifts from the world. —Arthur Bispo do Rosario

Opening on January 25, Americas Society in New York will present the first exhibition in the United States devoted to Afro-Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo do Rosario (b. 1909, Japaratuba; d. 1989, Rio de Janeiro).

At midnight on December 22, 1938, seven angels appeared to Bispo do Rosario. They informed him that it was his task to organize the world’s chaos. Bispo do Rosario thereafter avidly pursued this divine mission, creating intricate sculptures and textile works that replicated and cataloged everyday objects, all of which were handcrafted from cast-off materials he collected and exchanged while interned in a psychiatric institution in Rio de Janeiro.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Bispo do Rosario developed a densely textured artistic language. His artworks capture his entire history, not only his time in mental health institutions but also his childhood in Sergipe and his stints as a sailor, professional boxer, and trolley mechanic. In resistance to his double marginalization—as both a Black man and a psychiatric patient—Bispo do Rosario asserted his existence by creating a world in which definitions of reason and madness were no longer contradictory. Bispo do Rosario believed he was revealing the true nature of things through his quest of recreating All Existing Materials On Earth.

Curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Ricardo Resende, and Javier Téllez, with Tie Jojima.

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Museu Bispo do Rosario Arte Contemporânea in Rio de Janeiro.

Arthur Bispo do Rosario: All Existing Materials On Earth is on view at Americas Society from January 25 through May 20, 2023.