About The Artist José ROOSEVELT José Roosevelt was born 1958 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His familiy moved to Brasília, the new capital of the country, in 1960, two months after the inauguration of the city. J.R. did his primary and secondary studies in Brasília. At a young age, he showed already a vocation for the drawing. He read lots of comics books (including the ones by Carl Barks) and admired at same time the fantastic art of Bosch and Brueghel. At the age of fifteen, J.R. discovered the paintings of Dalí, and painted his first picture, an oil on canvas. Four years later, after a big disappointment at the Fine Arts School of the University of Brasília (he frequented it for only six months), he decided to build a career as a painter and began to work with constance and method. In 1979, he showed for the first time one of his works to the public, in taking part of a "salon" of drawings and etchings. Some months later, he did his first individual exhibition. He showed figurative paintings (acrylic on canvas) and drawings (Indian ink on paper), of surrealistic inspiration. In 1981, he tried some new experiences in painting: hyper-realism (inspired by the north-american painters like Don Eddy and Ralph Goings) and optical art (in the manner of Chuck Close). These experiences ended six years later. Then, the fantasy took again the first place in his production. Even in these years of experiences, J.R. never abandoned the surreal themes, returning to them all the time. IIn 1986, after a stay by the indians, in a reservation, he made a series of paintings using indian themes, mixing their iconography and legends with his personal inventions. In 1988, J.R. went to Europe for the first time: he was invited to show his pictures in Switzerland. He visited Paris, Rome, Firenze and the Netherlands. The next year, he did an exhibition in Rome and participated of a group exhibition in Paris. These two first years in Europe were decisive to him: he definitively replaced the acrylics for the oils, and his painting improved very much with the study of the masterworks that he could see in visiting the europeen museums. In 1990, J.R. married Fabienne Gapany, a girl from the typical swiss region Gruyère. He installed his atelier in the village of Riaz, and after in Bulle. From this year on, he made several exhibitions in Switzerland (Fribourg, Bern, Yverdon, Geneva, Basel, Montreux, Nyon, Lausanne and, mainly, in the International Center of Fantastic Art of the Castel of Gruyères). In 1991, he published the comics book "La Ville" ("The City"), work that he did in Brazil in the 1980's. In 1993, he published a collection of his best drawings in the book "Roosevelt: Dessins". He opened in the same year a little gallery in the city of Romont (after transfered to Geneva). Nevertheless, his experiences as a gallery owner ended six years later: he finally prefered to dedicate his time to his production. Besides his paintings, J.R. made several illustrations, especially to the magical trips or The Holiday Passport of the city fo Fribourg, commanded by Hubert Audriaz, every year since 1994. In 1996, he made 96 illustrations for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". In the same year, he published a catalogue with the best paintings of the period 1990/1995. In 1998, J.R. began to expose regularly in Paris. From the following year on, he became member of the S.N.B.A. (National Society of Fine Arts) of France, and of the SAFIR (Society of Fantastic, Imaginary and Oniric Art), equaly in Paris. The same year, he moved with his wife to Lausanne, where he installed his atelier. In april 2000, he published the first volume of the comics book "L'Horloge" (The Clock). The second volume was in the bookshops in september, and the third will be available in january 2001. Copyright 1999 All rights reserved Concorde Fine Arts