Zé Kielwagen: BAFO! Beauty Temple

BAFO! Beauty Temple | Press Release | Appointments | Zine | Events | Installation View
June 15 – July 26, 2024
Opening Reception with Performance by Celestina: June 15, 6-8pm
Gallery Hours: Thurs + Fri: 4-6pm, Sat + Sun: 2-6pm
Open Source Gallery is pleased to present BAFO! Beauty Temple, an exhibition by Zé Kielwagen.
BAFO! Beauty Temple proposes an afterlife for a beloved Brazilian queer clown, Baby Bobolete. Created by the late actor Caike Luna, Bobolete premiered on Brazilian TV in 2015, and then expanded to theater, social media and gay dance clubs. When Luna passed in 2021, Kielwagen began to combine research on queer labor and spirituality with Bobolete’s persona, creating ways to transform and preserve her in other contexts. The results, displayed in this exhibition, are exercises of fan fiction and worldbuilding, taking the form of sculptures, performance and video.
Exú Bobolete was the first outcome of this research. Kielwagen created ten cult statues depicting Bobolete as an exú, a popular spirit in Brazilian folk religion, as well as a set of stories, rituals and prescriptions for the new spirit. The statuettes are meant to be enshrined and displayed as the center pieces of altar installations. This exhibition at Open Source Gallery features the second altar of the series, following the first at the National Umbanda Sanctuary of São Paulo, Brazil.
Keresemash is a choreographic research on Bobolete’s body language, resulting in three original dance pieces. Kielwagen collaborated with three queer, Brazilian dancers to document these dances on video in three spaces of queer labor: a beauty salon, an Umbanda temple and an art school.
Finally, to realize Bobolete’s dream of opening her own salon in NYC, Open Source will be transformed into a beauty salon staffed by Brooklyn beauticians. In combination with an altar to Exú Bobolete, this salon doubles as a temple: the professional practice of the beauticians is both performance art and spiritual practice. The Beauty Temple offers free hair, makeup and nail service, by appointment. To make an appointment, visit open-source-gallery.org/beauty-temple-appointments.
Zé Kielwagen is a Brazilian artist who works in and between the fields of sculpture, performance and video. His work has been exhibited in venues such as the Ghetto Biennale of Haiti, the Queens Museum of NYC, the Museum of Natural History of Paris, the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, and others. Kielwagen is also an independent curator and producer, who organizes exhibitions, workshops, performance programs and other events related to art and education. Currently, Kielwagen is a professor of studio art at Oberlin College. He has also taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, University of Joinville in Brazil, and other institutions.
On weekends, BAFO! Beauty Temple will also host a series of special events:
Sunday, June 16 at 3pm – Chat & snacks with Zé Kielwagen. Who is Bobolete?
Saturday, June 22 at 3pm – Chat & snacks with Zé Kielwagen. What is queer labor?
Sunday, June 23 at 3pm – Chat & snacks with Zé Kielwagen. A talk about art and spirituality.
Saturday, June 29 at 3pm – Performance by WIFE (Hannah Lillevoy & Micca)
Sunday, July 21 at 3pm – Performance by WIFE (Hannah Lillevoy & Micca)
+ Other performances and events TBD – view our calendar for updates!