José Leonilson

Three artists from São Paulo - Leda Catunda, Leonilson and Ciro Cozzolino - talk about their work and the rebirth of painting through pop, conceptual art and graffiti.

The life and the work of José Leonilson, one of the most important Brazilian artists of the 80's, who died of AIDS at the age of 36 in 1993. The video explores Leonilson's poetic and intimate universe through his work and through fragments of a diary he recorded between 1990 and 1993, where he talks about art, sex, memory and poetry.

In January 1990, at the age of 33, the artist José Leonilson starts registering an intimate journal in a tape recorder. His views on events that shook both Brazil, such as the resignation of former president Collor, and overseas, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, permeate his confessions. He also talks about his impressions on the various movies he used to watch. The records of this sensitive artist in tune with modern life did not intend, at first, anything more than register the harmony that existed between his life and his peculiar and intimate work. However, J.L. suffers the unexpected blow of the discovery that he himself is HIV positive. The uncertainty and urgency in his life begin to permeate his reports.

From the last notebook of Leonilson begins this documentary, in counterpoint with the initial phase of his artistic trajectory, the artistic path with some of his paintings, drawings and embroidery and his final phase with excited silences. The story of the artist is told through testimonials of the Project Leonilson's coordinator, his sister, his mother, critics and artists.