Ordinary objects undergo surreal transformations in Jesuys Crystiano’s graphite and charcoal drawings. The ends of bow ties turn into snakes; noses on faces break off and become shoes. Jackfruits, vultures, airplanes, umbrellas, strange machines, and floating faces are interconnected, with a sense of movement extending to illustrations of trees uprooting, arrows piercing gargantuan fruits, and tables overturning. Many pieces have collage elements, cut from newspapers and books or whole prayer cards and paper currency. Some are references to art, such as a photograph of Joseph Beuys’s 1963 Stuhl mit Fett (Chair with Fat), which Crystiano surrounded with sketches of mountainous terrain and giant faces gazing at a crashing airplane. Most works feature inscriptions, annotating Crystiano’s fantastic collisions of figures, objects, and flora.

Much of Crystiano’s biography remains vague and little of his life is recorded. He was born around 1950 (a date later set by a court order) and grew up in Buerarema in the state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil. At a young age, he moved to Rio de Janeiro. In 2010, he was living on the streets of Ilhéus in Bahia when a German hotel owner noticed the murals he had drawn on the walls of abandoned buildings. Struck by the complexity of the art, the hotel owner decided to support Crystiano and his practice; Crystiano created hundreds of works in the final years of his life, until his death in 2015.

In 2021, works by Crystiano were included in the exhibition PHOTO | BRUT: Collection Bruno Decharme & Compagnie at the American Folk Art Museum.

Allison C. Meier, 2025

Text written as part of “Rethinking Biography,” an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).