Going to Market ëFacesí Showcases Folk Art of Northeastern Brazil by Gary Tischler It may be impossible for the windowed exhibition space at the Inter-American Development Bankís Cultural Center to look like a festive village market, but the sights that greet you if you happened by there these days come pretty close. A carved miniature soccer team, a large fishing boat, painted, lacquered wooden and ceramic figurines of animals, peasants, mythical monsters and gods, model airplanes, pottery, saints and the Virgin Maryóso colorful and inviting are these objects that they evoke a desire for voices and music. Instead, what you have is ìFaces of Northeastern Brazil,î an exhibition full of objectsómuch of it classifiable as a highly particular form of folk artówhich youíre not likely to see in any other venue, unless you should happen to travel to that part of Brazil far removed from its glamour spots, where brisk ocean winds challenge fishermen, and the flat inlands are mainly a place to raise cattle. The exhibition of 80 works features some 40 popular and folk artists from Cear· in the northeastern part of Brazil, where local ar tists and crafts people have been doing this sort of work for generations. Itís also mounted in conjunction with the 43rd annual Meeting of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank taking place in the city of Fortaleza, which is the capital of the state of Cear·. IDB Cultural Center curator FÈlix Angel scoured the countryside looking for objects, working with Dodora Guimaraes, chief of the Raimundo Cela Visual Arts Center in Fortaleza. Some of the objects came from private collections or art centers and museums, others were literally found in market places or cooperatives while the sculpture of the soccer team was specially made for the occasion. The exhibition captures a way of lifeóthe subjects being the people of Northeastern Brazil in their daily activities, tasks and traditions. The exhibition also touches on their religion, their cultural dreams, and the faces and images from a long-ago past that still nurture their imaginations. Here, you can see the merging of Spanish, Indian and African influences, especially in the sculptured figures with their teeth-bared masks. There apparently isnít a village in the region that does not have its many practitioners of craft work, all of who are supported by CEART, a state organization that pulls together crafts people into communities and cooperatives, providing help with promotion, materials and further training in techniques, while encouraging traditional ways of doing and creating things. There are astonishing and beautiful woodcuts in this exhibition, reminiscent of medieval and renaissance works and wood sculptures. Generations are represented here: three sets of women artists producing similar but also highly varied ceramic figurines. The works of Maria C?ndido Monteiro, Maria Lourdes C?ndido and Maria do Socorro C?ndido are all in the field of small, brightly colored figures, with each succeeding generation producing more sophisticated and detailed work. ìThese are not works by formally educated artists,î Angel said. ìBut they produced some remarkably effective and affecting work. Many of them are receiving training now, fully aware that more formal approaches to the work could undermine the very quality which makes them so attractiveóthat spontaneity of spirit.î ìFaces of Northeastern Brazilî runs through April 12 at the IDB Cultural Center, 1300 New York Ave., NW, Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, please call (202) 623-3774. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.