Iberê Camargo & Francisco Stockinger

IBERÊ CAMARGO & FRANCISCO STOCKINGER

Text by Iberê about Xico:

"I met Xico in 1947, in Rio, at Bruno Giorgi's studio. He was just beginning to sculpt. We became friends immediately. A shared ideal, art, brought us together forever. I viewed his transfer to Porto Alegre with some trepidation. I feared the province wouldn't foster the development of his talent. I was wrong. It was precisely in the south, in this land of bloody traditions, that Xico created his immortal warriors, always ready to fight, armed with shields and pointed spears. Quixotic, they exist, heraldic, in the timelessness of Art. And, of course, they fight in imaginary skirmishes—experiences of the artist's fantasy. During our prolonged separation, which lasted almost thirty years—he in Porto Alegre, and I in Rio—we exchanged correspondence, always brimming with humor and affection. During my sporadic visits to the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, together, Quixotically, we engaged in fierce debates. Among many, the famous one at the Teatro de Equipe, in the sixties, which coined the inexorable expression – ‘Porto Alegre’s stagnation’.

Xico is this vigorous sculptor who tames iron, wood, and marble with a master’s hand. And he is also a great friend to all of us.”
IBERÊ CAMARGO
Porto Alegre, 1968