Simões de Assis

Simões de Assis and Galatea will jointly present the work of Brazilian multidisciplinary artist Heitor dos Prazeres.

About the Gallery
In 1984, Waldir Simões de Assis Filho founded Simões de Assis in Curitiba (Paraná, Brazil) with the deep desire to move and decentralize the production and circulation of art. Since its opening, Simões de Assis has directed its gaze towards modern and contemporary art, especially the Latin American production. Throughout decades of work, the gallery has focused on the preservation and diffusion of the estate of important artists such as Carmelo Arden Quin, Cícero Dias, Miguel Bakun and Niobe Xandó, with the partnership of families and foundations responsible for them.

About the presentation
Galatea and Simões de Assis will jointly present the work of Brazilian multidisciplinary artist Heitor dos Prazeres. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1898, he began his activities as a self-taught painter in 1937. Personal memories, scenes of everyday life among the Afro-diasporic community, and carnival festivities were the main themes of his production. Many of his paintings depict the movements of arms and legs, or flowing skirts, bringing rhythm to two-dimensional figures. Music was present in the artist’s life from an early age, and he also played a pioneering role in samba as a musician, singer, composer, and founder of two of Rio’s first samba schools. In 2023, the Centro Cultural do Brasil do Rio de Janeiro held the largest Heitor dos Prazeres retrospective to date, featuring more than 200 works across visual art, music, and fashion.