Descrição

“Gato Preto” (2025)

“Gato Preto” is a captivating and deeply symbolic composition, executed in charcoal and acrylic on canvas. At its center, a woman gazes with composed intensity while gently holding a black cat. Two dark birds rest upon her headwrap like extensions of thought, memory, or ancestral presence.
The monochromatic palette and the artist’s masterful use of light and shadow give the work an atmospheric, contemplative quality. Charcoal lends the piece a tactile immediacy and emotional weight, while acrylic softens transitions and creates layers of visual silence. This is a painting that does not shout—it whispers—and in doing so, it becomes profoundly magnetic.

Every element in “Gato Preto” is infused with metaphor. The black cat, often a symbol of independence and mystery, here becomes a silent companion, an emblem of emotional intimacy and private connection. The birds, a recurring motif in Ritchelly Oliveira’s visual language, hover like metaphors for unresolved memories, emotional wounds, and the echoes of lived experience.
The subject’s gaze does not simply meet the viewer, it transcends them, evoking a quiet tension between presence and the unseen. This delicate balance makes the work stand out within the broader scope of contemporary figurative art.

This work is not only technically refined, it is emotionally and symbolically rich. Ritchelly Oliveira is steadily emerging as one of the most authentic voices in Brazilian contemporary art, known for exploring themes of emotional memory, identity, love, and vulnerability through a consistent and deeply personal body of work.
“Gato Preto” is part of this ongoing narrative. It carries the strength of coherence, the sense that it is not just a painting, but a chapter within a broader visual and emotional journey.