Nelo Teixeira (Angola, 1975), trained in painting and sculpture through seminars promoted by the Union of Angolan Plastic Artists (UNAP), paints and creates installations using materials that he finds and reuses, such as metal, plastic, aluminum, glass, and inks.
Having grown up in the historic Chicala, an informal neighborhood close to the center of Luanda, Teixeira transports various details of life in this context in his works, providing the public with a trip to a particular artistic Africa. Passionate about the recycling technique, he finds art in the most infinite details that probably escape the rest. Through his installations, Teixeira can tell various stories: the story that the materials and objects already carried in their former life and the new meanings he creates.
In this interview, Nelo shares with us the nostalgia of the times when he collected materials to make his works in Luanda, reveals a little about his creative process, and goes into more detail about his relationship with the various materials he uses and with the movement of artists in the country.
A carpenter from an early age, he learned to handle wood in different ways and under different conditions. Always interested in new techniques and materials, he has been integrating himself into the artistic dynamics of Luanda, and he leaves to exhibit what he sees as an ignored problem in Luanda, the borders between the city and the musseque. It was in Chicala that he created the studio “Só Bumba”.
The artist has participated in various collective exhibitions at Celamar, Humbiumbi, Elinga Teatro, Soso Arte Contemporânea, Associação 25 de Abril, in the National Museum of Natural History of Luanda, Luanda Triennial, Angola-Israel Cultural Bridge Project, among others.
