SEXUALITY AS AN ARTISTIC PRACTICE

Services for artists who explore sexuality, bodies, gender, eroticism, and pornography

✶ HOW TO BOOK ✶

  • Portfolio Review

    An in-depth analysis of your portfolio, highlighting strengths and suggesting improvements to communicate your concept clearly and strategically, aligned with current calls for proposals and projects. The review is conducted collaboratively, fostering the refinement of your rhetoric.

    R$ 300 (1-hour session)

    BOOK YOUR PORTFOLIO REVIEW

  • Mentorship

    Online sessions designed around your artistic practice and real-world context. We discuss work, desires, blocks, and decisions — from the studio to the exhibition. Sessions can be booked individually and tailored to your needs.

    R$ 600 (2-hour session)

    BOOK YOUR SESSION

Discover some of the main topics you can discuss in mentorship, always based on your work and tailored to your goals:

  • Career Planning

    Create a clear action plan for your career, balancing creative and financial objectives to achieve your ideals.

  • Portfolio Development

    Build an impactful portfolio that showcases your best works and tells your story, attracting collectors and curators.

  • Artwork Pricing

    Price with confidence, considering artistic value, production costs, and the market, ensuring a fair and competitive price.

The sessions cover research and creative process issues, project development, discourse construction, circulation strategies, career decisions, and the practical and conceptual impasses that arise along the way.

  • We analyze your production to understand which questions, references, and formal choices structure your work. The focus is not to “define a style”, but to make aesthetic decisions conscious, strengthen the coherence between form and content, and identify how your language positions itself in the field of contemporary art.

  • Rhythm, methods, blocks, repetitions, and practical limits… We help organize your creative process without rigidifying it, enabling work continuity, project completion, and adaptation to different production contexts.

  • We discuss how the market functions in practice — galleries, fairs, collectors, institutions, and alternative circuits — without idealizations. The goal is to facilitate understanding of real dynamics, identifying possibilities compatible with your work so you can make more assertive decisions about where and how to circulate.

  • We help you build a clear positioning: how you present your work, who you speak to, and in which contexts it makes sense to be present. This includes adjusting your discourse, portfolio, and outreach strategies, while respecting the ethical, political, and conceptual boundaries of your production.

  • We guide you in critically reading calls for entries and open calls, choosing the most suitable opportunities, and adapting projects without compromising their concept. The focus is on strategy, clarity of writing, and coherence between the proposal, context, and institutional expectations.

  • We work from the initial idea to the project's organization: concept, objectives, justification, timeline, budget, and deliverables. Our mentorship helps transform ideas and intentions into consistent and executable projects.

  • We realistically analyze international circulation possibilities, considering language, cultural context, costs, and career goals. We prepare you and your work for relevant selection processes, residencies, and exchanges, avoiding generic or exhausting applications.

  • We view online presence as an extension of artistic work, considering the logic and limitations of algorithms. We help you define communication strategies, content organization, and conscious use of each platform.

Working with sexuality in art within a market that resists sensitive themes requires courage, strategy, and professionalism. Our mentorship offers guidance and practical tools to help you communicate your ideas confidently, developing the skills and knowledge to stand out.

YOUR MENTORS

  • Leonardo Maciel is a curator, creative director, and co-founder of Vórtice Cultural. He provides mentorship and development for artists, helping to structure projects, positioning, and circulation strategies within the art circuit. He works directly with creative processes and career building, from concept to inclusion in national and international exhibitions and programs.

  • Paulo Cibella is a visual artist, curator, and co-founder of Vórtice Cultural. A researcher and collector of homoerotic art for over 30 years, he mentors artists with a focus on research, language, and the development of their artistic trajectory. His work involves critical guidance and direction for poetic and conceptual development.

CURATION AND EXHIBITION PRODUCTION

Distinct services that can be contracted integrally or independently, according to the needs of each project.

A curation involves the conception of the exhibition project: concept development, definition of the selection of works, narrative construction, drafting of curatorial texts, and dialogue with the exhibition space.

Production, in turn, is responsible for the execution of the project, involving timeline, installation, team management, budget, and resolving practical demands throughout the entire process.

REQUEST A QUOTE

  • “The dynamism and objectivity in explaining the topics helped me better understand the development phases of my work. By organizing my portfolio, I was able to outline clearer perspectives for my professional development.”

    Karen Viegas

  • “It helped me clarify certain doubts I had about portfolios and calls for entries.”

    Julio Lima

  • “It was very productive for me! Even though I have a degree in Visual Arts, important questions about the art market were not addressed in my education. Vórtice fills an important gap in the training of artists, especially those focused on eroticism and sexuality.”

    Gabriel Victal

  • “Wonderful for understanding the entire art system! I highly recommend it!”

    Rikia Amaral

  • “As a researcher in art history, with a special interest in the system, my expectation was to understand the dynamics involved in the beginning of a professional artist's career. This expectation was more than met! I particularly highlight the objectivity with which the topics were addressed and the applicability of the guidance provided, regardless of the artists' language, location, or background.”

    Vinícius Strack

  • “The mentorship exceeded expectations, and the mentors are very attentive.”

    Daniele Braido Soriani

  • “I loved it! The teaching method is concise and very objective. I was able to better understand the practical aspects of the artistic environment and the art market. Congratulations to Vórtice!”

    Felipe Gonçalves

  • “The guidance I received made all the difference. Not only did I learn how to put together a suitable portfolio for every occasion, but I also gained confidence to take my first steps. It was an incredibly enriching experience!”

    Dan Tamayo

  • “The meetings simplified something I had wanted to learn for a long time! They were objective and provided enough information for me to enter the art market more effectively.”

    Rod RAS

  • “It might sound cliché, but the journey with Vórtice doesn't just navigate the paths of the art system, but also internal ones. The mentorship sparks very deep reflections and concerns, unfolding a series of questions about artistic creation, opening maps for our journeys, and helping us better understand the artist's relationship with this system, as well as how much the profession's horizon can be expanded, complex, and achievable. The meetings are objective yet dense, always clarifying and provocative. I leave stimulated to chart routes for a possible career. It's truly worthwhile!”

    Allis Bezerra

  • “It opened my mind in many ways: first, on how to structure my career, understanding that discipline exists, just like in any other profession; and also, to comprehend, within my own truth, what I want to express as an artist. The meetings are very didactic and clear. Thank you for the learning opportunity!”

    Marcela Pires

  • “Despite having gone through various training programs, some essential questions remained unanswered or unclear, as if they were secrets to be uncovered on one's own… In an objective and transparent manner, the meetings went straight to the point, addressing necessary aspects for artists looking to enter the market professionally. I felt my artistic vision was embraced, and I improved my self-presentation, creating strategies based on the acquired knowledge and optimism for new possible paths!”

    Ralf Nitro

  • “The course was very precise and clear in its information, and despite the short duration, it covered various common points and questions for those starting in the market.”

    Niki Nishi

  • “The course met my need to open myself more to the art world, understand how the system and art market function, and acquire concepts and practices that allow me to navigate this environment with more confidence. Living and working as an artist, which once seemed a distant horizon, has now become more tangible. This course, without a doubt, helped me pursue a more mature and professional path.”

    Ari Acioli

  • “I loved the course! Comprehensive and clarifying, but above all, a space for many exchanges of experiences. My mind opened up to many possibilities. Fantastic!”

    Rafael Beck

  • “It was essential for my understanding of the art market, its nuances and singularities. Everything was presented in a very clear and assertive manner, greatly helping with the first steps into the art world. I recommend it!”

    Matheus Marangoni

  • “The guidance from Vórtice was extremely valuable to me. I highly recommend it, as it brought clarity to my artistic path.”

    Priscila Gurski

  • “Dense and comprehensive, it clarified many of my doubts about the nuances of how the art market functions. The meetings are rich in content and certainly broadened my vision of the art world. I highly recommend it!”

    Alberto Boni

  • “It was like receiving a detailed map. The mentors deliver a lot, and the meetings are very comprehensive.”

    Eliade Tavares

  • “The mentorship offered a clear and straightforward overview of the art market in Brazil, helping me to outline a more effective and realistic career plan. The mentors know all the ins and outs and behind-the-scenes aspects of the market, providing a safe environment for exchanges.”

    Luísa Franca

  • “It was wonderful to have my artistic vision embraced, without prejudiced judgments related to what I create.”

    Pedro Orlando