Pride Zine: In Conversation with The Visual Bossa Samuel De Saboia
WELCOME TO THE VISUAL BOSSA
interview Monique Johnson
photography Anna Prudhomme
As I sat in my box-sized NYC apartment, exchanging WhatsApp chats with Samuel de Saboia, I felt a deep connection across states, countries, and continents. Each message seemed to transport me, imagining us sharing Camarão na Moranga in the lovely, warmly lit dining room of his parents’ home in Brazil. Though our talk took place across screens, it was filled with rich images and heartfelt interactions that made me feel as if I were present, involved in the dazzling culture and stories of his life and artistic path.
Samuel’s latest exhibition, “Metaphysical Poetry,” which opens on June 5th, 2024, in Brussels, invites us on a kaleidoscopic journey through the realms of the human psyche and philosophical musings. This isn’t just an art show, of course; it is— with all intended purposes Samuel de Saboia turning life’s chaos into a symphony of colors and emotions— a visual bossa that dances through themes of Vision, Movement, Chaos, Texture, Color, and Harmony.
From his first stolen kiss on the piers of Recife to battling the concrete jungle of New York, where his luggage and dreams got a bit roughed up (lost passport and a stolen painting drama!) Samuel’s life reads like a book that’s too good, too raw to put down. These vivid incidents not only influence his brilliance, his art, butthey also give it a raw, pulsating energy that demands the viewer’s attention.
His canvases challenge us to confront the comfortable, to question and to understand the chaotic blend of beauty and pain that defines human existence. Building on his ethos that nothing is unachievable, Samuel de Saboia’s art pushes us to reflect on deeper issues. His works invite a critical examination of why we frequently funnel the creations of Black artists into a singular narrative. “I’m done explaining simple things for people who choose not to know,” Samuel urges us to move past surface-level comparisons and delve into the distinctive stories his works tell, each one powerfully reflecting his identity and experiences as an Afro-Brazilian and queer artist.
““The idea of destroying ideas and desires because they were unachievable was certainly not in my dictionary,””
MONIQUE JOHNSON: Your journey from Recife to becoming a renowned artist has been incredible. Can you share some pivotal moments that shaped your path in the art world?
SAMUEL DE SABOIA: God, what a wanderlust! I’ve demonstrated quite a thing for delightment since I’m a kid. Although I’m not afraid of sacrifices and definitely not shy of hard work, the idea of destroying ideas and desires because they were unachievable was certainly not in my dictionary. So that’s the start point, I was aware of the world around me and with some certainty that it wasn’t where I was supposed to stay. I was 17, full on queer, quite witty and with a sharp tongue, that added to being black and indigenous on a place with so many paradoxes just meant that I had to create my own world, one were words could float in air, where the weight of expectancy was equal to a bubble ready to be bursted.
A few moments:
First kiss in the piers of my hometown. (2014)
First institutional show at the age of 19 (2017)
Comes to the US on a tourist visa, luggage is stolen with a sold painting inside on the first day, three car accidents, sleeps at motel six, rent a bedroom in Bedstuy, gets hustled by the owner who never leaves, his drug dealer steals my passport and half of a bagel, eat a box edibles by mistake, paint my whole exhibition in a month. (2018)
First solo show in New York at the age of 20 (2018)
Meets Raphaelle Bellanger and Anna Gardere by being part of their book KIDZ, which would start up my life in Paris. First french boyfriend (and the many more to come)
Sold out solo show in Brazil (2019)
Continues on traveling non-stop, exhibition in Los Angeles, breaks with girlfriend in Brazil, then with boyfriend in Paris, moves to Morocco. (2019)
It’s “pandemic times”, I’m preparing an exhibition for the Kunsthalle in Zurich, alone, drinking too much, and my grandfather passed away. Work on the first Dior campaign with my brother Rafael Pavarotti (2021)
My dear Ronnie introduces me to Adrian, we became friends, and after a season of talking and experiencing art I’m invited to collaborate with CDG, creating then a residency at 3537, the campaign for “Zero” the new parfum of the house, a box kit, sculptures and an installation in Ibiza. (2022)
Spends some good time in Marseille at Le Corbusier with my best friend, we live and laugh painting non-stop on both floors of the apartment. I’m heading to Florence for a two month residency at Numero Venti. I have my first mutual show in Brussels for Maruani Mercier and Saatchi in London. On the day of the show I received a call, my best friend isn’t with us anymore. Did the nightmare end or started? I blinked twice as John Galliano lit me a cigarette, we are having dinner at the Margiela office. He loved the paintings, I could faint but Naomi is on the other chair so let’s just talk about art. (2023)
Sold out exhibitions while I do my first performance work as part of “Water in a Heatwave,” a piece by Miles Greenberg presented at the Southbank Center in London for the Marina Abramovic Institute takeover. A week before turning 26, I received an Email from Katie Grand; I’m going to be photographed by David Bailey. (2023)
February, I have my first story as a creative director on British Vogue. March, Finished recording my first album in Brazil. April, completed the paintings of my first solo show in Brussels while in Brazil, shipped everything, got on the plane, and since the first of May I’m in L.A preparing two new exhibitions to be done and presented at the 2nd of June, one day later I get in the plane again, go to Paris, get on a train on the same day, to then get to Brussels where I’m opening my new solo show on the 5th of June.
MJ: How did your early experiences with art, especially your childhood projects and online commissions, influence your style and approach today?
SdS: They taught me how to be committed to my vision and what can spark from allowance. I have no space for shame, whenever it comes it’s usually from the gaze of others, I can definitely pinpoint moments as a kid that informed me and instructed me on how to become brave and advocate for the things I want. From the moment I was set on becoming an Artist I
MJ: If your paintings could speak, what would they say about the journey of Afro-Brazilian queer experience in America?
SdS: Being an Afro-Indigenous Brazilian makes me be part of such a plural landscape and that is shown in the work. My love for unity does not make me refrain from the many differences, categories, languages and aesthetics that surrounds my identity. In America there’s such an ideal of picking a side as in Brazil I can be in the diaspora, in-between, on the margin and the center of being and experiencing without having a final name to what I am. Our spiritual technology allows us to go further into the explorations of being and as my Art, I rather be than be named.
MJ: How does it feel to have transitioned from hiding your identity online at 12 to now being a celebrated artist?
SdS: I feel like a pokemon, one of the rare types that don’t have a trainer. At this point I had so many different lives that now I can pick and choose which Samuel to be. There’s a relation of coming into my own sense of beauty and understanding which has helped me embody and accept myself. I’ve grown.
to fit the person I wanted to become and I’m excited now that I see myself going over that and turning into something new. There’s me as a woman, as a man, a person, an idea, a concept, a plant, a song, and me as Art, maybe my final piece is just myself.
MJ: “Metaphysical Poetry” explores deep themes of philosophy and the human psyche. What philosophical idea or thinker has influenced your work the most?
SdS: The first base was the work of Samuel Johnson, a critic from the 17th century that coined the term to define a group of English poets whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrical quality of their verse. Although I liked that, having the ideas of Cosmogony (religious/spiritual frameworks as to explain the universe and the gods), Body Memory (Knowledge stored in the body from generational experience) and being a preacher’s son, made me also dwell into the insides of the work. On a designer’s way of saying: It’s Gestalt. Many branches of thought united into turning big emotional masses into one being: a painting.
MJ: You mentioned your aunt, a hyper-realistic oil painter, had a significant impact on you. What’s a piece of advice she gave you that still resonates today?
“I have no space for shame”
SdS: Curiosity instead of fear. She lived by that, so do I.
MJ: How did your first collective show in New York at 15 shape your perspective on the art world?
SdS: I had no passport, so I sent the work and received a couple photos of the event. It was a peek, a vague notion of a trail. It reassured my path, but felt mostly as a glimpse of what it was to be.
MJ: Can you describe the emotional journey you went through while creating the pieces for “Metaphysical Poetry”?
SdS: The journey started with the death of my best friend, this box of supplies I received which included paint made from the ashes of the burnings in Amazonia, new love, old love and the process of recording an album in Brazil. All this while we are full on spectators of several wars, genocide and the planet’s collapsing. It’s a bit more than the usual half a tab of acid. Still I was able to navigate (sometimes in pure anger) to a place where things could make sense. This time I have not tried to reach peace, just acceptance. I know of my responsibilities as a human being, and as an artist what I can do is both imagine and create a world in reality and in figures, where existence is not endangered by beliefs. A State of Tolerance, the path of least resistance.
MJ: Your work often blurs the lines between American and Brazilian beauty ideals. How do you personally define beauty?
SdS: Beauty is an Equalizer, it’s the last step that makes one ordeal be worth something. In a functionality led culture Beauty is the line between simple and divine.
MJ: What’s the wildest or most unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for your art?
SdS: I like texture a lot, the results of something being used, touch, marked. Currently I’m excited about the floors of painter ateliers, the ways on which sounds can be reimagined as movement for drawings, mistakes and how people behave when they think no one’s watching.
MJ: Your upcoming exhibit is titled “Metaphysical Poetry.”
If you could turn one of your paintings into an actual poem, which one would it be and what would the opening line be?
SdS: “To Whoever Gives Me The Moon” something like - There’s a song from me/In everything I do/Even when I won’t say the words/You still can hear the tune. I’m lactose intolerant so a cheesy line like that feels appropriate.
MJ: Como você vê a cultura queer afro-brasileira evoluindo e influenciando a arte nos próximos anos? (How do you see Afro-Brazilian queer culture evolving and influencing art in the coming years?)
SdS: There’s this opulent feeling of liberation. Like everyone feels unlimited by judgment. So that brings us to a place of infinity. Each story, no matter how dull or brilliant, has its place and someone passionate enough to create it. Mastery meets mystery, research meets rhythm and style meets conscient decisions. I think we as a generation of artists are sharper than ever, and that makes me excited, to be and to see.
MJ: How does your experience as an immigrant influence the themes and messages in your art?
SdS: I’ve been able to go from a comfort zone to a comfort zone. Adaptability and Expansion being keywords of this journey. Mastering languages brings quite an emotional background to everything, and being open to the aspects of different cultures surely makes it easier. My USA visa says “Alien with extraordinary ability” I see myself as an active observer looking closer and with interest into humanity and its facets.
MJ: If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and what kind of project would you want to create?
SdS: On an utopic wishlist, I would like to be with Audre Lorde when she finished “The Black Unicorn,” dance at Paradise Garage to Larry Levan, see Lee Krasner painting “Sun Woman,” have lunch with Ingrid Bergman, create some collections for Rei (Kawakubo), become the muse of the houses I admire, learn from Prince and Tina Turner, pose for Avedon, be shot by Varda, dance with Pina, shop with Isabella Blow, have tea with Franca Sozanni, talk jewelry with Art Smith, travel with Bowie, gossip at a party with Joni Mitchell, share a cigarette with Baldwin, see Gal Costa sing “Gal A Todo Vapor” live for the first time, make a song with Patti Smith, know what would’ve come of Basquiat and his art if he got to get old, star in the next Wong Kar-Wai or Wim Wenders, and see my friends again.
MJ: You’ve had quite a journey from Recife to São Paulo, New York, Morocco, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Atlanta, Brussels and now LA. How do you keep grounded and connected to your roots amid all this travel and success?
SdS: Sun, sex, sweat, sea, song and sleep. That has been the combo for going on. Since part of my work involves imagining things, sometimes I need to go inside and stay there until ready to take action. I used to disappear a lot, but now each year I feel more apt and interested in being around, present and awake during each phase.
MJ: We’re doing this interview over WhatsApp—what’s the strangest or funniest message you’ve ever received on this app? HAHA
SdS: I loved the time when this one guy who ghosted me messaged an apology saying that the billboard of the Calvin Klein campaign of me in underwear was installed in front of his window and when a friend from the team at 3537 messaged me that Frank Ocean was arriving at my studio, I low key freaked out.
MJ: I’ll be visiting Brazil next summer. Should I drop by and pretend we’ve been best friends forever?
SdS: Oh we friends friends, if you drop by my parents house they will tell you all the stories in portuguese being certain that you are understanding it, plus breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is how it is.
If you’re ready to see the world through Samuel’s eyes, “Metaphysical Poetry” is your ticket. The exhibition will do more than showcase art; it will envelop you in narratives so compelling that you will feel as though you are standing in the studio, an integral part of the creative process itself.
The opening soirée kicks off from 5 pm to 7 pm on June 5th, at Avenue Louise 430, 1050 Brussels. “Venha perder-se para se encontrar,” as Samuel would say—come get lost only to find yourself.
Follow the rockstar and artist on Instagram @samueldesaboia, because you—yes, you—need someone aesthetically pleasing on your feed, and his whole page is one big timeline cleanse.