Limeira - Sao Paulo Pt2
Since the day I arrived in Brazil, the weather had been beautiful, and this morning was no exception. Day 7 started with the addition of a new artist, Tosko, to join in on the mural madness. We chose a wall on the other side of the Dores neighborhood and broke into pairs for our new collaborations. Zeh Palito and Tosko on one, and Medo and I on another. Zeh Palito and Tosko created an intersesting mural combining their iconic images together. For me, I decided to break from my norm of painting portraits and illustrated two Capoeira figures in motion. Medo painted his lettering in his particular way of graffiti design. I added a little design background around the figures, flanking the name “Medo” on both sides. It was fun to paint the characters and to ‘switch it up’ for a change.
The next day found Zeh Palito and I in downtown Limeira where the visual and performing arts center is located. The Oficina Cultural is the city’s cultural center, promoting and fostering art and music through various types of community outreach programs. Art instruction, concerts and gallery shows are ongoing. The organization is run by a very kind staff of Tati, Robson, Cecilia and Janaina. And all are very dedicated advocators for the arts. I was pretty excited that our group, along with other local artists, were invited to take part of their 15th anniversary celebration. And I was humbled and honored with the task to paint a portrait of the founder of Oficinal Cultural, the late 19th century Brazilian classical composer, Carlos Gomes. This man, not only a gifted composer, but a great humanitarian and passionate advocate for the arts to the public.
As I worked with the sounds of Onda Skillet in my head, Zeh Palito was across from me inside the courtyard painting a masterpiece. He has a unique approach to the fine art of design. His theme involving human and animal interactions is about our co-existence with one another. He illustrates this combining geometric shapes with organic forms, hard-edged images associated with loosely applied strokes of paint, creating a balance between the solid and translucent, tight and loose and always with a distinct primary color palette. The mural he created for this anniversary opening was nothing less than brilliant.
The local media were also involved, both TV and newspapers conducted interviews of the artists and did their part to support this celebration of the arts. It was unfortunate that we could not attend the opening as Zeh Palito, Medo and I took the overnight bus to Rio de Janeiro for our next mission. We were told it was a great turnout and the public enjoyed the collective works of all the artists. I would like to thank the staff at Oficina Cultural for inviting me to participate and bestowing me with the honor to paint the founder, Carlos Gomes. It was truly an honor, obrigado!
