Mendes Wood DM São Paulo is pleased to present Nascimento, a solo exhibition by Brazilian artist Antonio Obá, opening on Saturday, November 8, 2025, from 3 to 7 pm, at the gallery’s São Paulo space, located at Rua Barra Funda 216.
The exhibition gathers a selection of recent works that reflect Obá’s ongoing engagement with human experience, transformation, and identity, central themes throughout his artistic practice.
Curator Denise Camargo writes: “Birth is never an inaugural moment – that spark that triggers the first breath – dissociating oneself from the womb to come into the light (sometimes darkness) of day. It is a journey, a reinvention. Perhaps that is why Nascimento was the title chosen by Antonio Obá to welcome these works. They bear the mark of self-reference and seek to synthesize his admiration for life and the things of the world.”
Camargo notes that the artist “begins in the company of Ogum, the lord of all war, and Iansã, the lady of movement, represented along a path lined with snake plant and variegated snake plant.” Once this portal is crossed, objects appear made of materials recurrent in his poetics: cowrie shells, symbolizing exchange and divination; the head, representing human choice in the Candomblé tradition; and nails, associated with defense and protection. These elements, Camargo observes, “mark his confrontations for political and spiritual territoriality.”
About the artist
Antonio Obá (b. 1983, Ceilândia, Brazil) lives and works in Brasília. His work investigates the influences and contradictions within the cultural construction of Brazil, giving rise to acts of resistance and reflection on national identity.
Obá uses icons of Brazilian culture as allusions to racial and political identity, exploring historical and sometimes religious subjects through sculpture, painting, installation, and performance. His own body plays a central role in his research, questioning the eroticization of the Black male body and the construction of his identity.
With Nascimento, Antonio Obá continues his investigation into the intersections between spirituality, the body, and territory, consolidating his place as one of the most significant voices in contemporary Brazilian art.
On the cover: Antonio Obá, Figura adâmica: Wuso owoti a nea aka no ye ahoma, 2025, oil on canvas, 140 x 250 cm
Publicación anterior 24th Paiz Art Biennial to present “The Tree of the World” in Guatemala
Publicación siguiente Matadero Madrid presents The Animals, a photographic exhibition by Estela de Castro
Publicaciones relacionadas
