The contemporary art scene of Goiás

The state of red earth, the cerrado, and sertanejo music also offers examples of fruitful collaborations between artists of different generations. The art scene is vibrant, going beyond music. In this text, we've selected some highlights from the past and present to show that Goiás breathes art across various mediums.

ART FAIR

Since 2017, the capital, Goiânia, has hosted FARGO — the Goiás Art Fair — as a meeting point for those in the field. This year, it took place from May 14 to 18 and paid tribute to artists Sáida Cunha and Antonio Poteiro, well-known figures in the region. The event brings together art galleries, institutions like the Visual Arts Faculty at the Federal University of Goiás, and collective artist studios such as RENKA, formed by André Morbeck, Danilo Itty, Douglas de Castro, Ebert Calaça, Mateus Dutra, and Renato Reno. These artists have a rich past to draw from.

The presence of a federal university with a visual arts program is a driving force to keep the scene active.

— Beatriz Almeida

PAST AND PRESENT

Miriam Inez da Silva (1937–1996), an artist from Trindade, a town in the interior of Goiás, began her artistic career with woodcuts before transitioning to painting. By depicting religious manifestations, popular culture, and other themes, she created a body of work that serves as a testimony to Brazil’s modernization in the 20th century. Once labeled as “naïve,” she is now undergoing a process of repositioning, alongside other artists who were formerly categorized as “folk” and often received biased criticism of their work.

Another key figure in the visual arts — both regionally and nationally — is Siron Franco, 77, an artist who was born, raised, and still lives in Goiânia. He is represented by Cerrado Galeria, in Goiânia and Brasília, and Paulo Darzé Galeria, in Salvador. Siron has a long career spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing, with a predominantly pictorial language that flirts with surrealism and abstraction. His works also offer insight into Brazilian and Goiano culture, as well as social critique. He is also a collector and patron of local artists. The artist will lend his name to an institute currently under construction, which will be located next to Cerrado Galeria in Goiânia.

Playing a role in the promotion and decentralization of visual arts in Brazil, Cerrado Galeria — with locations in Goiânia and Brasília — steps outside the traditional gallery circuit by prioritizing, among its goals, audience development. Opened in 2023, the gallery has an educational team and welcomes visits from local schools to promote access to modern and contemporary art in the city — something uncommon among art galleries. While it represents artists from across Brazil, the majority are from the state of Goiás.

ARTISTS IN DIALOGUE

Some notable figures contribute to the expansion of the visual arts scene in Goiás. One such figure is Dalton Paula, 43, who lives in Goiânia and holds a degree in Visual Arts from the Federal University of Goiás. Represented by the galleries Martins&Montero (São Paulo) and Cerrado, Dalton is one of the most influential artists in Brazil. Along with his partner Ceiça Ferreira, he founded Sertão Negro in 2021—an atelier-school that functions as a quilombo: a space for creation, experience, and interaction with the environment, in addition to serving as an artist residency.

Artists such as Manuela Costa Silva and Genor Sales, both represented by Cerrado Galeria, have participated in Sertão at different times and emphasize how this experience transformed their perception of and engagement with art.

Manuela Costa Silva, 31 years old, born in Goiânia, has a poetic research deeply connected to the natural and the supernatural; to life, death, and the beauty that permeates them. Her art also reflects her connection to nature, magic, and the desire to “find the sea within me,” as she says. Influenced by artists such as Ana Mendieta, Tunga, and Farnese de Andrade, she explains that “magic is arranging elements, setting intentions, even if unconsciously, and creating agents of meaning.” She was involved in the early days of Sertão Negro, from 2019 to 2022, and carries the learning from that period as a legacy, now passing on her knowledge to an artist interning in her studio.

Genor Sales, 41, also from Goiânia, attended Sertão Negro from 2022 to 2024, where his research project “Fish Out of Water” was born, addressing the body that feels displaced from its place of origin. The artist, nominated for the PIPA Prize 2025, also explores social, racial, and food-related issues in his work. Genor acknowledges and continues the learning acquired at Sertão through a collective project with other quilombo artists. Together with Abraão Veloso, Lucélia Maciel, Tor Teixeira, William Maia, and Xica, he founded Associação Jatobá Nascente, a studio-home and art-education center located next to Sertão Negro. This space embodies the legacy of Sertão and continues the strength of collectives and independent cultural spaces.

Other movements deserving attention in the Goiás art scene are art salons, such as the Anapolino, currently the most well-known. However, other salons, like the one in Jataí, also play a crucial role in shaping Goiás artists. The Anapolino Salon, which started with a regional focus, has expanded to the national stage. Today, it holds a collection of works and acts as a kind of training agent for emerging artists, such as Talles Lopes, born in Anápolis and also represented by Cerrado Galeria.

Talles Lopes, 27 years old, trained as an architect, has completed several artist residencies, including at the Delfina Foundation in London, and has worked as an assistant to Dalton Paula. His research is closely connected to architecture and aims to represent the Brazilian interior, always with a critique of the persistence of colonial legacies in the country. Alongside artists Joardo Filho and Valdson Ramos, he founded Barranco Ateliê in Anápolis, which also promotes exhibitions, artist residencies, and discussions. Barranco Ateliê serves as another space for exchange, audience development, and support for the local art scene.

Barranco Ateliê, like other studios, residencies, fairs, and cultural spaces, is yet another place to discover new artists and explore different perspectives on contemporary art.

SERTANEJO SILENCE

One of these perspectives, a recurring theme in the work of several artists, is sertanejo silence. Jesus José, 42, from Trindade (the hometown of Miriam Inez da Silva), is one of the artists who explores this silence in his work. José had paintings exhibited at the Claraboia gallery booth during the most recent edition of Rotas in 2024, and at the Arte Plena gallery booth at FARGO 2025.

Now living in São Paulo, the artist uses material in his paintings to reveal and simultaneously conceal, creating undefined, almost abstract, ineffable, and mysterious figures that convey the silence of life in the countryside of Goiás. Jesus engages in dialogue with the sertanejo people: the hard and repetitive labor, when conversation is reserved for the weekend and becomes music and storytelling—those tales shared in Brazil’s rural interiors. Other artists also express this silence in their work, many of them finding resonance through musical forms.

Sertanejo silence appears in various works: when conversation is saved for the weekend and turns into music and storytelling.

—Beatriz Almeida

The state of Goiás thus emerges as a source of inspiration for thinking about alternative ways of making art. In this context, the presence of a federal university with a visual arts program serves as a driving force to keep the local scene vibrant. Research and the university space contribute to the promotion of art, as seen in the Cultural Center of the School of Visual Arts at UFG, which from May to June this year is presenting the exhibition “Não vou negar: visual arts, territory, and sertanejo music”, curated by Paulo Duarte-Feitoza. The show brings together various established and emerging artists, proposing a deep dialogue between art and *sertanejo* music, expressing not only a distinct silence but also the vitality of life in Brazil’s Central-West region.

Beatriz Almeida is a specialist in Museology, Collecting, and Curatorship, with research focused on accessible curatorship. She holds a bachelor's degree in Social Communication, with a thesis centered on graffiti, activism, and advertising, and is part of an art history study group led by Rodrigo Naves. For the past six years, she has worked in communication and design within the cultural sector, with experience in galleries, museums, and art collections. She is currently the Communication Specialist at SP-Arte.