Opera Gallery is pleased to present an expansive body of new work by Gustavo Nazareno. Curated by Samuele Visentin, this exhibition presents two distinct but inextricably linked series. Nazareno’s oil paintings, varying in scale but always monumental in their spiritual resonance, are presented alongside monochromatic charcoal drawings from his Bará series. Both groupings pay homage to the pantheon of Orixás, deities worshipped across a number of Afro-Latin religions and within Nazareno’s own spiritual praxis.
Gustavo Nazareno
Oyá2024
Oil on linen
180 × 200 cm | 70.9 × 78.7 in
“I have been manifesting this show since I started understanding my purpose in art – to elaborate my faith, my passions, and my universe.”
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4252019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4032019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4092019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
A little song of a new passage2024
Oil on linen
40 × 30 cm | 15.7 × 11.8 in
“I believe that living in the shadow of today’s world events calls for a growing need of spiritual grounding and Gustavo, in the privacy of his own studio, paints the return of the gaze to an inner dimension.”
Gustavo Nazareno
Elegbara2024
Oil on linen
50 × 50 cm | 19.7 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4142019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4052019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Its name a shortening of Elegbára, one of the names of central Orixá Exu, Nazareno understands his ongoing Bará series as a perpetual dance, captured in a sequence of snapshots. “[Exu] is the connector between the human and the divine,” the artist explains.
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4272019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
“I like how fashion can tell a story and how fashion photography can capture all of it in just one image.”
Gustavo Nazareno
The man who lived under the mountains (Oshosi)2024
Oil on linen
150 × 120 cm | 59.1 × 47.2 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Obatalá2024
Oil on linen
40 × 30 cm | 15.7 × 11.8 in
Of the broad range of sources that Nazareno draws on in his work, fashion is one of the most pertinent. He clothes his subjects in outfits of his own design, blending the overlapping aesthetics of traditional religious dress and haute couture.
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4152019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4212019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4262019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Oshún2024
Oil on linen
200 × 170 cm | 78.7 × 66.9 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4202019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Bará #4172019–2024
Charcoal on Hahnemühle cotton paper 190 g/m2
66 × 50 cm | 26 × 19.7 in
Gustavo Nazareno
Omolú2024
Oil on linen
200 × 170 cm | 78.7 × 66.9 in
“Nazareno’s artistic journey is a profound exploration of his Afro-Brazilian heritage, seamlessly blending black cosmologies and worldviews with contemporary art forms and identities.”
Gustavo Nazareno
Eshu guiding a peth2024
Oil on linen
150 × 120 cm | 59.1 × 47.2 in
Gustavo Nazareno
The Conqueror2024
Oil on linen
30 × 40 cm | 11.8 × 15.7 in
Exhibition photography © Eva Herzog Photography