José Adário dos Santos

José Adário dos Santos (1947) was born in the neighborhood of Caixa d'Água, Salvador, Bahia. At the age of 11, he began his work as a blacksmith of Afro-Brazilian religious artifacts [ferreiro de santo], learning from his master and mentor Maximiano Prates. Since then, he has manufactured gates and ritual implements: percussion instruments such as “agogôs” and iron sculptures that operate a kind of mediation between men and the gods of the religion known in Brazil as “Candomblé”.

For the originality and consistency of his objects, José Adário has become not only the most celebrated blacksmith-sculptor in the Candomblé ceremonies of Bahia but an artist recognized for honoring the Afro-diasporic roots that make up the culture of his region. Based on Candomblé traditions, the canons of Yoruba art, and the different expressions made possible by iron, José produces sculptures that can be found in “terreiros” (temples of Afro-Brazilian religions as Candomblé and Umbanda), museums, private collections, and galleries, giving life to sacred entities and dialoguing with the iron power of his ancestors and of Ogum, the entity who rules his work: iron.

Among his main exhibitions are: Alagbedé - O Ferreiro dos Orixás, Arco 26, Salvador, 2021; A Cidade da Bahia, das baianas e dos baianos também, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, 2019; Axé Bahia: the power of art in an Afro-Brazilian metropolis, Fowler Museum, Califórnia, 2018; Afrikanische Religiosität in Brasilien; Kunst und Afro-Brasilidad, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, 1994. Eight of his sculptures are part of the collection of Museu Afro Brasil, in São Paulo.