Although trained as an actor, Helio Braga has drawn constantly since he was a child. Completely self-taught, he never studied academic anatomy. All his studies of the human body are results of his having observed and explored the universe of this art. In his work, there is clear evidence of discerning contortions of the human figure. Nowadays, he spends a lot of time in Paraty, a place that he visited for the first time in 1967.

In 1969, after a short stay in Italy (where Pompeii’s fraying frescos and scenes of Romans spa’s created the deep impressions  present even today in his work), Helio returned to Paraty, where he lived for 20 years and to  where he still returns, whenever he can, although he lives in Rio.  
After authoring several corporal paintings for the films, “Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês”, of Nelson Pereira Dos Santos and “Anchieta Jose do Brasil”, of Paulo Cesar Saraceni, he worked in set design and “art of feather”(arte plumária). Throughout his career, the body manifests itself as the root of his art. The erotic and sensual body, sometimes classical, exhales delicate atmospheres of desire, never explicitly sexual.

In 1972, he lived for two years in Peru, where the pre-Inca Nazca civilization would supply another strong influence, felt today, even in his more recent works. Besides working with screen and fabric, Helio made a several murals. Currently, his preferred material is nankeen, utilizing infinite textures of paper, which suggests in his drawing the effect of Chinese ideograms. Transcending the virtuosity, in a self-effacing manner, Helio speaks majestically with volume and movement. Among the variety of influences that are transparent in his work, what distinguishes itself foremost is the guarded atmosphere of the classical spas. However, his classicism does not make reference to the rapes, abductions and violence, but to the revelry and bacchanalia, where the sensual is a constant celebration. He does not have expressionistic anguish in his nudes. The artist, fastidiously exploring the human body in all its contortions and enigmas, frequently takes us to the Classical tradition. With his simple tracing, however firm and intense, he catches with sudden virtuosity the contour of a foot, the mass of a torso ............. Helio explores the formal wealth of a restricted universe of meanings. In this time that demands of an artist, a multiplicity of performance and a linguistic diversity, Helio meticulously elaborates an unequivocal universe which manifests carefully infinite combinations: a universe of lascivious sirens, evil centaurs, Ganymede and fauns-subjects that perhaps seem glorious and charmingly “out of fashion”. Helio Braga allows us the privilege of being able to oppose to reigning cultural paradigm, delighting us with the elegant ideals of a forgotten aesthetic.