DALTON PAULA, “João Mulunga,” 2023 (oil and gold leaf on canvas in two parts, 24 x 17 3⁄4 x 1 1⁄2 inches). | © Dalton Paula, Courtesy the artist and James Fuentes
The work of Dalton Paula, a Brazilian artist born in 1982, showcases powerful portraits that shed light on the African Diaspora in Brazil. His art is a fusion of visual representation, historical preservation, and racial justice. Focused on giving visibility to historically significant figures in Brazil, Paula’s multidisciplinary practice spans painting, photography, and installation. He recently joined the James Fuentes gallery, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, marking a significant move in his career.
Paula’s art was featured in the “Afro-Atlantic Histories” exhibition, with his portraits of Zeferina and João de Deus Nascimento garnering international attention. The cover of the exhibition catalog for both the Brazilian and U.S. editions also features his painting of Zeferina. His previous representation was with Alexander & Bonin in New York, but now James Fuentes is representing him in the United States through a collaboration with Sé Galeria in Brazil.
James Fuentes showcased Paula’s work at Art Basel Miami Beach, and plans to hold his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at the end of 2024. Born in Brasilia, Brazil, Paula currently lives and works in Goiânia, Brazil.
Dalton Paula in his studio Goiania, Brazil. | Courtesy the artist
Paula’s artistic process involves researching historically significant but visually undocumented figures, creating imagined portraits to acknowledge their contributions and provide historical redress. His composite portraits blend past and present, drawing from contemporary residents of quilombos, rural communities founded by Indigenous and African people fleeing enslavement. These portraits are inspired by the lack of historical images of Black people in Brazil, aiming to “create a new history” and challenge the historical objectification of Black individuals.
By bridging the past and present, Paula’s work addresses the underrepresentation of Black leaders in Brazilian history. His paintings serve as a form of recognition and seek to rectify the historical omissions of Black figures.
Paula’s art is a meaningful exploration of memory, representation, and healing. Through his powerful imagery, he aims to elevate and honor silenced voices, contributing to a more inclusive and accurate historical narrative.
“These paintings portray Black leaders, who were silenced in Brazilian history.… In my portraits, I seek to create a new history.” — Dalton Paula
DALTON PAULA, “Vitόria da Conceição,” 2023 (oil and gold leaf on canvas in two parts, 24 x 17 3⁄4 inches). | © Dalton Paula, Courtesy the artist and James FuentesIN TERMS OF SOLO SHOWS, Paula has been the subject of two major museum surveys in recent years: “Dalton Paula: Rota do algodã” at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2022-23) and “Dalton Paula: Brazilian Portraits” at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2022). Also in Brazil, Paula’s work was featured at the 32nd São Paulo Biennial (2016).
“Afro-Atlantic Histories” originated in Brazil in 2018, across two venues: the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) and the Instituto Tomie Ohtake. The exhibition has been traveling in the United States since 2021. Currently, “Afro-Atlantic Histories” is on view at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, through Feb. 11, 2024.
In New York, Paula participated in “Songs for Sabotage,” the New Museum Triennial (2018). Six portraits made by Paula in 2020 were acquired in the same year by MoMA and five of the works were recently featured in the museum’s contemporary collection galleries (Fall 2021-Winter 2023). The presentation was titled “Critical Fabulations.”
The museum’s introduction to the display illuminated the mission and responsibility of Paula’s ongoing portrait series: “The title of this gallery is borrowed from Saidiya Hartman, a cultural historian who has written about the afterlife of slavery. Responding to the limits of official archives, she offers us ‘critical fabulation’—the use of storytelling and speculative narration as a means of redressing history’s omissions, particularly those in the lives of enslaved people.… Together [the works on view] strive to tell what Hartman has described as ‘an impossible story.’” CT
BOOKSHELF
Published earlier this year, “Dalton Paula: Brazilian Portraits” documents artist’s solo exhibition at Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Also consider, “Enciclopedia Negra: Biografias afro-brasileiras” (Black Encyclopedia-Biographies of Afro Brazilians), which is published in Portuguese. “Zeferina” (2018), a portrait painted by Dalton Paula, covers the exhibition catalog “Afro-Atlantic Histories.” Published on the occasion of the U.S. presentation, the fully illustrated volume features works dating from the 17th to 21st centuries by more than 200 artists from Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe and essay contributions by co-editors Adriano Pedrosa and Tomás Toledo, along with Vivian Crockett, Kanitra Fletcher, Ayrson Heráclito, Hélio Menezes, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, and Deborah Willis. Books by Saidiya Hartman include “Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America” and “Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval.”
