Nonatto Coelho marks 4 decades with a MAG solo show

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Seventy paintings and an installation span 1983–2025 in Nonatto Coelho: 4 Decades of Art, opening Jan 27 at MAG in Goiânia, free entry.

What is time when art becomes a life measure? That question frames Nonatto Coelho’s solo exhibition, bringing together around 70 paintings, two objects, and one installation created between 1983 and 2025. Admission is free, and the show runs through March 1 at MAG – Museu de Arte de Goiânia.

A career told through distinct phases

Curated by Sanatan, a leading figure of Naturalism in Goiás, the exhibition spotlights four decades of sustained work. Over 42 uninterrupted years, Nonatto has exhibited in Brazil and abroad, moving across periods and languages while maintaining a steady drive to experiment.

“I’m celebrating four decades of an artistic path, since my first professional participation at the 5th National Art Salon, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 1982,” the artist says. At MAG, that timeline expands into a broader selection, inviting visitors to track shifts in technique, themes, and pace.

“Time in art works differently”

For Nonatto, studio time follows its own logic. “Time in art is different, at least in my view. To me, art is related to religion and science,” he explains. He also links this outlook to 11 years living in Greece, where he absorbed a decade-by-decade sense of cycle and responsibility.

Now 62, he says he remains focused on the present. “I still feel young at 62, and all I want is to keep walking my path wherever I am.” Looking back, he avoids naming a single “most important” exhibition, preferring to keep producing and let time decide what matters most.

From early recognition to Europe

Born in Montalvânia, Minas Gerais, Nonatto has drawn since childhood and began painting with a brush at 18. At 19, he entered a local art contest (GREMI) and was selected—alongside Cleber Gouvêa and Carlos Sena—to represent Goiás at the 5th National Modern Art Salon, promoted by FUNARTE at MAM Rio.

In 1990, he won a travel prize to Paris at a National Biennial of Goiás. The trip opened the door to Europe, where he spent more than a decade, settling in Athens and taking part in solo and group exhibitions across the continent.

Street Art and the pulse of the present

Nonatto describes life as cyclical, and art as something that returns in new “outfits,” shaped by society’s shifts. He also notes that today he senses a conservative wave attempting to restrain artistic “emotions.”

He recalls a long relationship with Street Art and graffiti in Goiás. “More than forty years ago, I introduced graffiti (Street Art) spontaneously in Goiás. Back then, my colleague Edney Antunes and I had a group called ‘Pincel Atômico’,” he says. He cites interventions in Inhumas, Goiânia, and Uberaba, as well as graffiti on the island of Rhodes in Greece and on overpasses in Israel’s Negev desert.

While his routine has changed—from 12-hour days early on to a more contained pace—the emotion remains. For emerging visual artists, his advice is simple: keep dreaming, and keep aiming higher, day by day.