O BASTARDO – Rhythm & Skin
The artist OBastardo, featured in the group exhibition Rhythm & Soul, simultaneously presents his first solo exhibition in Europe, Rhythm & Skin, at Salon 69. His works depict a society reflected in its own multiplicity: fragmented, rhythmic, alive. OBastardo’s painting is among the defining voices of a young Afro-Brazilian generation, embodying an art that creates visibility, understands bodies as carriers of history, and expresses a soul that refuses to be silenced.
Rhythm & Skin is the result of his working residency at Galerie Kornfeld from October to December 2025. The exhibition is complemented by works recently created in Brazil. His portraits possess an immediate force that resonates both aesthetically and politically. Within his paintings, we encounter faces and bodies that appear simultaneously individual and collective—portraits of a society in which history, resistance, and future are inseparably intertwined. His symbolic visual language draws deeply from Afro-Brazilian culture. Colors, patterns, and gestures carry dual meanings: they signify personal identity while also functioning as ciphers of collective memory. The figures rarely meet the viewer’s gaze directly—they exist in a space between pride, melancholy, and spiritual strength.
OBastardo develops a hybrid painting technique that merges gestural composition with elements of urban visual language. His works are built on a powerful graphic structure, shaped by precise lines, striking contours, and an intense, rhythmic palette that echoes visual codes of the street, hip-hop culture, and Afro-diasporic aesthetics. The surface unfolds in multiple layers: on vividly colored, often irregularly applied backgrounds, the artist constructs stylized figures, symbols, and recurring patterns. Drawn elements remain visible, giving the works a spontaneous, gestural quality.
During his time in Berlin, OBastardo incorporated new components that further emphasize the conceptual layers of his practice—such as a nuanced spectrum of skin tones reflecting the complex fabric of Brazilian society. The depicted individuals are deliberately anonymized and freed from their real-world identities. Symbols of his Orixá Oxalufan frequently appear—revered as the creator of the universe and humanity, associated with peace, creation, and equilibrium, and closely linked to the color white. These symbols often emerge as central elements that permeate and protect the entire composition.
His paintings render visible the social realities that are often marginalized or overlooked in Brazil: the bodies of the Black population, the energy of the favelas, the spirituality of Candomblé, and the dignity of those who confront inequality every day. OBastardo transforms these themes into a visual poetry that is both indictment and celebration—an homage to survival, beauty, and the right to be seen.
— Tereza de Arruda
OBastardo (born 1997 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian artist living and working between Rio and Paris. Beginning with graffiti and urban visual culture, he developed during his studies at EAV Parque Lage and later at the Beaux-Arts de Paris a figurative language centered on questions of identity, belonging, and Black everyday culture. His paintings merge autobiographical experience with social observation, transforming personal and collective narratives into powerful visual statements. His work reflects empowerment, social realities, and an aesthetic consciously positioned against marginalizing visual regimes.
His most important exhibitions include Pretos de Griffe (Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, 2021/22), Forrobodó (A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, 2023/24), and My Black Utopia (A Gentil Carioca, São Paulo, 2024/25). His works are represented in international private collections and presented by leading galleries such as Casa Triângulo and A Gentil Carioca.
