The Devourer
Bringing together previously unpublished essays and testimonies from artists such as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Maria Bethânia, Bete Coelho, Jorge Mautner, and many others, this book pays homage to the career of playwright and founder of Teatro Oficina, José Celso Martinez Corrêa (1937–2023). His career was marked by radical innovation, political critique, and a celebration of artistic and bodily freedom. This collective work is organized by journalist and researcher Claudio Leal.
The anthropophagic verve of Oswald de Andrade (1890-1954), a major inspiration for Zé Celso and which also influenced the title of this book, was the spark for the design project. Anthropophagy is a concept that proposed “swallowin” the European culture that had arrived in Brazil and “digesting” it in the form of a quintessentially Brazilian art. The graphic design was inspired by the typographical experiments seen on Tropicalist album covers of the 1960s, European avant-garde movements such as Dadaism, and also the iconic covers of the Brazilian modernist magazine Klaxon (1922-23).
The book is structured around visual and textual narratives. Two sequences of images mark the beginning and middle of the book, interspersing the large volume of text. Eloquent and varied typographic openings mark the texts, making them appear as acts of a grand work. Its structure-free design seeks to dialogue with the experimental, poetic, and libertarian character of Zé Celso’s work. The book’s spine is exposed stitching, allowing its large volume to be easily handled with a paperback binding. Its triple-fold cover unfolds to serve as a poster and reveal photos from different phases of Zé Celso’s life.
Edições Sesc São Paulo, 2025
17 × 26 cm
