Fim de linha na arte: Pintores retratistas de rua

Abstract

Starting from a description of the trajectory of portrait artists with degrees in fine art who work in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, this article discusses the constitution of the artist condition by social actors from the working classes. The analysis relies on links between distant social spaces - on the hand, those in which these artists were formally trained and for which they would like their art to be produced, and, on the other, those in which they interact with other portrait artists that they deem to be unqualified and with whom they compete for clients and work space. The dissemination and diversity of configurations assumed by artistic practice and the sometimes tense way in which they coexist indicate the limits for comprehending the experience of these artists, based exclusively on the impossibility of their insertion in the so-called artistic field. The article emphasizes how conceptions of art and the artist that hold sway in the very restrictive processes of the formal training of fine artists have an extensive effect on how artists from working class backgrounds, in different contexts, define themselves and evaluate art. These conceptions also exceed the meaning that they attribute to the sale of their products and their relationship with clients, as well as the way they judge their clients' ability to comprehend their art.