BIOGRAPHY – Roland CABOT (1929-2020)
I was born in Rio de Janeiro. My mother was French and my father Uruguayan. I made my studies in French and Portuguese. When I was 14, my father died and in 1947 I left for Paris. I enter the Beaux Arts School of Architecture where I make friends with the American Architect Jules Gregory, in Paris with a 6 months Grant of the French Government.
His strong personality impressed the “novice” I was. He took me under his wing and made me discover what could be the spirit of creation.
In 1956 I go back to Brazil. I rent a room in a house in Santa Tereza, a Rio de Janeiro District where, like many artists of my generation, I seek to equal Picasso. These efforts threw me into a depressive state that seemed endless.
In despair, I drew a human figure from a magazine.
This gesture made me suddenly aware, at a time when representing reality was almost forbidden, of the cardinal importance drawing the human figure had for me.
In 1957 I cary out my first figurative oil painted picture, a self-portrait. This work released my blocked energies. I started yoga, swimming and jogging.
First etchings ( self-portraits, still lives and graphic constructions) in 1960.
The representation of the human figure brings force, but this force wouldn’t have any object without the concept of creation, which releases the chained energies of the human being.
In 1961, I leave for NewYork, with my first wife and the baby. During the day, I work for architects (Skidmore, Owings & Merril).
In 1964, the Consul of Brazil, Mrs Dora Vasconcellos, introduces me to Armando Zegri, Director of the Sudamericana Gallery in New York. He invited me for a one-man show of etchings at the Gallery.
The Show was welcomed by the critics and works were acquired bys the Metropolitan Museum of Art and by he Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
I took part in several Group Shows in the US. The Print Club of Philadelphia invited me for a two-man show with the Artist Matt Phillips.
In 1967 I go back to Brazil.
First Painted Woods. In Rio, the American photographer David Zing invites me for a one-man show at the G-4 Gallery of the Architect Sergio Bernardes.
One-man Shows at the Galleries A.R. Hayatt and Quadro.
In Sao Paulo, I meet the painter Wesley Duke Lee, who invites me to integrate the “Rex Group” which he created with Avant Garde Brazilian Artists.
He introduces me to Pietro Maria Bardi, Director and Founder of the Museum of Art (MASP), the most important museum in Latin America. Bardi offers me a show at the Museum.
By the end of 1968, I go back to France and settle in Paris.
I print during two years with Jacques Frélaut at the Lacourière Workshop.
1971, Etchings acquired by the National Library, Paris.
1973, Purchase Award, Rank Xerox International Print Competition, Paris.
1975, One-man Show at the Museum of Art (MASP) of Sao Paulo.
1977, First Painted Steels
Etchings acquired by the School of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, California.
1979, Works in the “Lacourière-Frélaut Workshop”, Museum of Modern Art, Paris.
1980, Multiple acquired by the Saint Dié des Vosges Museum.
1982, Painted Steel acquired by the French Contemporary Art Fund.
1984, Etching selected by the Biennial Committee, 6th Miami International Print Biennial.
1987, “Féérie Cinétique”, Maison de l’Amérique Latine, Monaco
1988, Bernardi Gallery, Aix-la-Chapelle
Hohman Gallery, Cologne
1990, I quit the angles and strait lines and start a random language, close to tagging.
2004, Multiple acquired by the MADI Museum, Ceará, Brazil.
2005, Two-man Show of Painted Steels with the Brazilian Sculptor Jaildo Marinho at the Marino Gallery.
2006, Massy-Palaiseau Annual Show (honor guest)
2008, Sculpture/Architecture, Michelle Broutta Gallery
2011 Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole Show, Juri’s Prize (President: Me Cornette de Saint-Cyr)
2012, “Born to Be Alive – I Tell You Must Die”, Factory Art Gallery, Berlin
2013, “Les Imagiers de l’Imaginaire”, Museum of Carcassonne.
To conclude, I will say that I need to oppose to the urban reality in which I live, the reality of Nature. There I find the ever renewed force and pleasure to undertake.