A new wave of young Brazilian designers are coming to the fore with a unique visual take on life in the major cities, breaking the boundary between art, illustration and design.
See more Eduardo Recife's work
‘Street Art’ has become a significant force in Brazil – given further recognition by the Tate Modern’s Street Art exhibition last summer which featured the work of Brazilians Nunca and Os Gêmeos – with artists working on and off the streets and mixing techniques like graffiti, line drawing and collage.
Three of these artists have came together for Brazil Illustrated, a show at Gallery 32 in London this Septemb: Bruno Kurru, from São Paulo, Wagner Pinto, from Porto Alegre, and Eduardo Recife, from Belo Horizonte. Despite distinctively different styles, each artist worked with the space, producing breathtaking site-specific installations.
Bruno Kurru's work brings together line drawing and found objects, while Wagner Pinto draws inspiration from the iconography of native and Afro-Brazilian myths, producing works that move subtly between an extravagantly colourful subjectivity and religious symbolism. Eduardo Recife, perhaps the most established and commercially successful though still in his 20s, creates pieces which are a combination of textures, patterns and overlaying objects.
The artists have an undeniably Brazilian style and flamboyance but still manage to engage with more universal themes. They work on the blurred line between illustration and spatial art and in the process are helping forge an altogether new medium.
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