The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Mestre Didi: Spiritual Form

Institution
El Museo del Barrio
Grant Cycle
Spring 2024
Amount
$90,000
Type of Grant
Exhibition Support
Website
www.elmuseo.org/exhibition/mestre-didi-spiritual-form ↗
Mestre Didi, OPA EYE AGBA ATI ITOKA [Scepter of the Great Ancestral Bird with lance on the top], 1977/78. Palm ribs, leather, cowrie shells and raffia, 83 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 10 5/8 in. Photo by Sergio Guerini.
Mestre Didi, XAXARÁ LEWA [Most Beautiful Xaxará], 1980s. Palm ribs, painted leather, cowrie shells, and beads, 24 1/2 x 4 x 4 inches. Photo by Andrew Kemp.
Arlete Soares, Festa de Oxóssi (Oshosi Festival), 1980. Courtesy of the artist.
Mestre Didi. Ejolorun, 1990. Palm ribs, painted leather, cowrie shells, and beads.
Arlete Soares, Meu Mestre [My Teacher], 2007. Portrait of Mestre Didi. Color photograph, Courtesy of Arlete Soares.
José Adário dos Santos. Ferramenta de Oxóssi [Oshosi’s Tool], 2022. Iron and varnish.
Mestre Didi. Opa Ose – Cetro da dinastia e ancestralidade [Scepter of dynasty and ancestrality], 2007. Palm ribs, painted leather, cowrie shells, beads and raffia. Photo by Estúdio em Obra. 19_Adario_
Mestre Didi. Opa Ose – Cetro da dinastia e ancestralidade [Scepter of dynasty and ancestrality], 2007 (detail).
Mestre Didi. Opa Ose – Cetro da dinastia e ancestralidade [Scepter of dynasty and ancestrality], 2007 (detail).
Ayrson Heráclito. Ijó Mimó, 2019. 3- channel HD video with color and sound, 9’58”. Featuring Inaicyra Falcão and Negrizu. Image courtesy the artist.

Mestre Didi: Spiritual Form is a landmark monographic exhibition exploring the work of the late Afro-Brazilian sculptor, writer, cultural advocate and spiritual leader Mestre Didi (Salvador, 1917-2013). As the first major U.S. museum exhibition of Didi’s work in 25 years, the survey unites over 30 of his sculptures and offers a rare view of his far-reaching spiritual and artistic legacy.

The exhibition foregrounds Mestre Didi’s spiritually evocative and formally imaginative sculptures and presents new interpretations of his symbolic repertoire. His distinctive artworks combine the traditional materials, shapes, and symbols of the orishas, the Candomblé deities, to create a modern sculptural language.

Mestre Didi: Spiritual Form also contextualizes Didi’s practice by including key works by his artistic peers and by contemporary practitioners. In addition to Mestre Didi, the exhibition includes works by Emanoel Araújo, Jorge dos Anjos, Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos, Aurelino dos Santos, Ayrson Heráclito, Goya Lopes, Antonio Oloxedê, Abdias Nascimento, Arlete Soares, Nádia Taquary, and Rubem Valentim. The influence of these artists’ shared interest in African visual languages ranges from 20th century modernisms to the continued innovation of Black diasporic aesthetics today.

See Also

1994

On May 13, 1994 the Andy Warhol Museum opened its doors to the public. The museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival materials, and is the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world and the largest in North America.