Brazilian artist's anti-colonialism work resonates with Chinese audience

As the tour proceeds, the intimacy between the viewers and the artist grows as they see an array of works that Oba created through going back to his roots.

Family albums and personal memories about his family inspired Oba to create the works displayed in Gallery 8. There they can see portraits of family members, idylls of the Brazilian plantations and scenes of rural laboring.

Tapping myriad sources of inspiration, Oba has formed his distinct style by creating paintings, drawings, and performances with the body as the central subject and sometimes as a medium, the curator emphasized.

In his 2015 controversial performance Acts of Transfiguration: Disappearance of a Recipe for a Saint, Oba ground to dust a statue of the Virgin Mary before pouring the powder over his naked body. At the Beijing exhibit, viewers can get to see several of Oba's untitled watercolors, featuring human bodies he drew with his fingers.