Márcia Pinheiro de Oliveira (

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, 1959 - Rio de Janeiro, 2005) was a Brazilian performer and visual artist. Her performances, videos and installations deal with themes of

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

childhood A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, often using sex toys, children's toys and religious artifacts.

Name

Márcia adopted the "X" in her name after the repercussions of a performance done in collaboration with her then-husband Alex Hamburgo at Rio de Janeiro's Book Biennial in 1985 where she was fully undressed. The fashion stylist of the same name, Márcia Pinheiro, did not appreciate her name being related to this "scandalous" performance, prompting the artist to change her name to Márcia X. Pinheiro before shortening it to just Márcia X.

Career

Márcia X studied at the School of Visual Arts

Parque Lage Parque Henrique Lage is a public park in the city of Rio de Janeiro, located in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood at the foot of the Corcovado, on top of which Christ the Redeemer is located. The land was formerly the residence of industrial ...

in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 1980s. During that period, she participated in the third Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas, where her performance ''Cozinhar-te'' won her the ''Prêmio Viagem ao País'' award. In 1985, she began to collaborate in interventions and performances with the poet and artist Alex Hamburgo. In 1988 and 1990, she had her first solo shows, ''Ícones do Gênero Humano'', at the Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, and ''Coleção Gênios da Pintura'' at the Galeria Casa Triângulo, São Paulo. By 1990, Márcia X started to work on pieces that questioned eroticism, appropriating the symbolic aspect of industrialized

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating. The ...

s. Her series ''Fábrica Fallus'' (1990-2005) utilizes rubber penises ironically juxtaposed with objects and materials usually associated with femininity, childhood and religion. In ''Os Kaminhas Sutrinhas'' (1995), headless dolls in pairs or trios mimic sexual acts atop toy beds decorated with childish motifs. In 2001, Márcia X took part in the exhibition ''Panorama da Arte Brasileira'', at the

São Paulo Museum of Modern Art The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, (Portuguese: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, or MAM), is located in Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo. Founded by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho and Yolanda Penteado, and built in 1948, the museum is modelled on ...

, Rio and Salvador, as well as the third Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre. During that period, between 2001 and 2003, she collaborated in group shows with her second husband, sculptor Ricardo Ventura. At the end of 2005, Márcia X had the piece ''Desenhando com Terços'' ("Drawing with rosary beads") in the exhibition "Erótica - Os sentidos da arte", curated by Tadeu Chiarelli for the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. Made out of two pairs of rosaries displayed in the shape of penises, the piece was considered offensive for its mixture of Catholicism and eroticism and asked to be removed from the exhibition in April 2006. Despite protests by the artistic community defending freedom of speech, the piece was removed from the show. The then Culture Minister,

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

, condemned the censorship of the work. In lieu of the donation of her archives to the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro in 2013, MAM-RJ organized a retrospective of Márcia X's work in what would be her first solo exhibition since her death in 2005. Alongside her works and documentation of her performances, the exhibition also featured a replica of her studio at Catete, Rio de Janeiro neighborhood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:X., Márcia 1959 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Brazilian women artists Artists from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian performance artists Pseudonymous artists Women performance artists