For the first time ever, we’re working with an artist to create the cover of a Culture Guide. Rogerio Pedro, featured in the Brazil Box, is a street artist from São Paulo, Brazil and known for his dramatic and colorful murals. Exclusively for Try The World, he created an incredible cover featuring the items from the box. Here’s an inside look at his passion for comics, murals, and Brazilian culture.
We’re thrilled to feature you as the very first cover artist for Try The World’s Culture Guides! What was your inspiration for this design in particular?
I have a big influence from Modernism movement, which Cubism came from, but I like many kinds of arts, mainly contemporaneous art. For the Culture Guide, I tried to bring something traditional from Brazil. That’s why I drew the maritaca couple (a relative of parrots and parakeets), which is a traditional bird here in Brazil. The other elements are ingredients of the Brazil Box: guava, coffee, jabuticaba, and Brazil nuts.
What are the most common subjects of your art generally?
Lately I’ve been depicting themes and traditions related to Brazil. Because of that, colors have been present more and more in my works. Brazil is a great country, rich in diversity, and colors represent it very well. When I paint murals, I like to tell stories.
My style of working has changed a lot, especially during the last five years. My work suffers many influences constantly. I seek for an own-inner-universe and through it many things happen: new colors, new lines, new ways of seeing people and the world.
I got interested in art in my childhood at the age of four or five. My books and graphic novels (gibis, in Portuguese) were my main references. I used to pay more attention to the illustrations instead of the plot itself.
My interest in producing art started in 1980, when I met a few guys who managed to make money from it. Then I realized that I could do something that I would like to do and get some money from that. So I started to study and practice, producing illustrations and graphic novels which I used to take to São Paulo to show to publishers and skate magazine editors. I would do some portraits and sell it to friends as well.
You’re best-known for your street and graffiti art. How is this work generally perceived in Brazil?
Brazil is a world reference in street art. São Paulo is the city with the largest number of artists and styles from all over the world. Go for a walk in São Paulo is like a visit to an open art museum. In every corner, square or bridge you can find huge murals.
