Artists Represented

Biography:

When speaking of art, this imagery assumes various forms, and the artist is the medium through which it takes shape. The artist forges his own path despite criticism, disapproval, or spiritual despair. Often a cursed figure, he upsets the status quo and challenges the order of things, damned for illuminating his tormented existence. Paradoxically, though his life suggests sacrifice, spiritual upheaval, and self-destruction, the artist seeks the exact opposite, though in the process his is the devil¹s hand. His life is an interminable journey and from the outset he intuits his own downfall.

The artist loves and kills the actual love of killing, sacrificing himself for himself every day. Each picture and every image represents a part of him cut out and hung up, at the mercy of the avid butcher who observes. The artist has to feel these intense parts of himself passionately, relating to them as if it were the last day of his life. In the work of Celso Junior this imagery is ever present, leading us to the other side of things where only shadows exist‹the bad ghost, loss of self in orgasm, and its parallels with death‹last rites to be compared only with the idea of complete perfection.

The soldier as motif is a consistent personal image in the work of Celso Junior, a clue to the painter's aesthetic. He kills with all the violence he can muster, and in so doing is ready to die himself. Only the soldier matches this ideal, his primary mission not to kill but to die, because in death all the secrets of the universe are revealed. The association between orgasm and death is the underpinning of Celso Junior's paintings.

Of boots. "I've lived this passion since I was a child. I have more than 250 pairs of boots: Cavalry high boots, heavy rubber boots, and waders‹in different sizes for my models. This collection means everything to me, but the the best boots are the ones that fit other men: a true policeman or workman that I encounter on the street. "There isn¹t any other object as beautiful and intense as some boots‹and my eyes were made only to appreciate them."

Which does he prefer: painting portraits or creating fantasies? "Both, because I always paint from a model. I don¹t take pleasure painting from a picture in a magazine or one taken by someone else. The process has to be mine from the beginning. The portraits are, for me, the top of creation: One can have one's model as well as a touch of his soul‹sharing a magic situation where fantasies are created for both."

Various responses. "I never think about that," he says, "because I always paint for my own pleasure. I never paint thinking about other people. But if you want to know the response I enjoy most, the answer is get horny!"

Born in Guararapes São Paulo, Brazil on February 5, 1961, Celso Junior received an academic degree in painting from Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil in 1985. Since 1989, he has resided in Lisbon, Portugal. In addition to painting, Celso Junior created and organized the Lisbon Gay And Lesbian Film Festival, now in its sixth year.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Guararapes São Paulo ­ Brazil on February 05th 1961

Academic Degree in Painting by Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná Curitiba 1985 ­ Brazil

Graduate Training on Documentation and Research at Museu Alfredo Andersen by the MUDES project Curitiba 1982/81 - Brazil

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO/

Several works on experimental video

SHOTS by Celso Junior

More than 25.000 photos about Fetish

2003 - Director and Programmer of the Lisbon Gay & Lesbian Film Festival since 1997

2003 - Director and Programmer of the German Film Cycle since 2002

1998 - Jury member for the TEDDY AWARD at the 48th BERLINALE (Berlin International Film Festival)

1996/93 Photographic Producer ­ several companies (amongst which NESTLÉ Portugal) and photographers

1989 - ERA UMA VEZ UM GATO CHINÊS QUE INVENTOU O UM, O DOIS E O TRÊS (Photographic Novel) CAI - Fundação calouste Gulbenkian - Lisbon

1988/86 Video and Photo Producer at SIR LABORATÒRIO (Several awards received) Brazil ­ several cities

1987/86 LES ANNÉES 80

1886/85 DIE FAMILIE

1986 ­ VOGUE

PAINTING and EXHIBITIONS

Permanent artist at Tom of Finland Foundation since 2002

2002 - Tom of Finland Foundation - Los Angeles - USA

1990 - SANTOS DA CASA Individual - Galeria Labyrintho - Oporto

1989 - DO FINO GOSTO Individual - Galeria do Príncipe Real - Lisbon

1986 - CELSO JUNIOR E ARLENE SABINO Sala Bandeirantes - Curitiba - Brazil

1985 - A GRANDE PITONISA Teatro Guaíra - Curitiba ­ Brazil

1981/85 ­ Participation in several Exhibitions and venues in several Brazilian cities

Several paintings reproduced in posters and other printed material

PROJECTS

1993/2 UNIFORMES DA GNR Compilation of the GNR (National Republican Guard) uniforms from 1911 to 1993 reproduced in paintings

1989 - BRINCANDO E PINTANDO CAI - Fundação calouste Gulbenkian - Lisbon

1988 - QUEM EU? UMA LENGA-A-LENGA À BRASILEIRA CAI - Fundação calouste Gulbenkian - Lisbon

PARTICIPATION AS INTERVIEWED IN DOCUMENTARIES FOR TV

EUROGAYVISION - Documentary about Homoculture directed by Canal + released in France on June 27th 1997

MIDNIGHT + - Directed by Lionel Bernard (Canal +) released in France on winter 2001

Two new documentaries by John Scagliotti ­ Summer 2003

Bears 

Boots

Cops

A true policeman I encounter on the street"

Death

In death all the secrets of the universe are revealed

General

Lisbon Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Artwork