Today we have another colorful, interesting and authentic interview for you with a fantastic artist from São Paulo in Brazil. We introduce you to the heartful painter and creative graffiti sprayer Daniel Bazco, to his art, his thinking and his mission to bring more life and positive energy into the cities and the minds of the people.
Daniel Bazco’s motifs are mostly about flora and fauna, but he also likes to paint portraits and characters. In doing so, he often chooses special people whom he would like to remember, but also people who deserve criticism. What all of his works have in common, however, is that they shine with strong color intensity. They grasp the gaze of those walking by, you are just magically attracted by the colorful and beautiful in his creations. Bazco’s pictures initially captivate the viewer optically, but his actual goal is to give impulses to thoughts. On the one hand positive, but on the other hand also a critical questioning of nature and life. Always with the aim of remembering that we can do better as humans and that there is good in us.
We spoke to Daniel Bazco in a detailed interview about his colorful art, about painting in Brazil, his experiences and his life. This conversation was made to present the artist, but also to motivate other creative people or people to be creative. Life and all living beings are precious, we must cherish them. Daniel Bazco not only conveys this in his work, he exemplifies this attitude himself how he lives, acts and paints.
Tell me about how you got into art? How did it start with you, it’s different for every person. When did you start painting?
It all started in 1996 in the interior of São Paulo in a city called Bebedouro, at the time I was 12 years old. I was at school and in between classes I passed a class where there was a boy drawing some stylized letters in his notebook. That fascinated me, I approached him and started asking him what he was doing and he introduced me to Graffiti. I’m from São Paulo, but I knew graffiti in the countryside and I always came on vacation to São Paulo, it was crazy, always looking at the walls and so after I saw and was introduced to graffiti I didn’t stop doing it. He asked the teachers for money to buy spray and permission for the school principal to put graffiti on the walls.
The motifs of your works of art are often portraits of people or motifs from fauna and flora. Tell me more about your motifs and why you like to paint them.
The principle of life is nature, the natural whole, if we move away from that we get weak, the daily routine in a metropolis is tense and as I can’t be in contact with nature every day I think about where I wanted to be , where I would feel good where peace reigns and I try to convey to the screens or walls and over the portraits and one more sensitivity challenge of achieving emotion and movement on a flat surface.
The people you choose and paint are not just ordinary people, they are often important people from human history. Some you want to remember, others you want to criticize. On the one hand, your pictures have a lot of colorful and motivating paint, but at the same time they also have criticism. Tell me more about it.
Most of the portraits I do are always positive tributes from people I like others who liked the features and always looking for a positive message, some clearer, others to make you think!!! But always for the good, this is always the goal of the adding!!! Art is healing, colors too!!! I like to play with colors and observe the reaction around the stimulus which it causes in those who can see it. I find it incredible the sighs and words that come out of their mouths. lol…. Always positive!!! At that moment I know I am able to give a bigger boost to the life of the one on my way with my art… “Mute Poetry that Screams”.
When I look at your pictures, I see a mix of warmth with a lot of love and color, but also a kind of drawing attention at the same time. Nature is precious, the animals of the earth are precious, we have to take care of them. As an artist you can convey messages, you can draw attention to problems. Tell me more about how you see this and what you do.
My relationship with animals is very spiritual, for a long time I practiced shamanism and I believe that both animals and all of nature and the universe have a lot of power and we are linked to them, so we have to respect and understand them, because we learn a lot when we allow ourselves, that’s why I use the colors and their strengths too for a big dose of love in a single mural!!!!
Tell me a little more about your painting technique and your instruments. What equipment do you use? Do you only paint with cans or also with a brush and paint? How do you create your work?
As much as I love to use spray, my materials are varied, spray, brush, pen, spatula, paper to make textures, roller. My creations go according to my inspirations and materials available at the time, as I’m an independent artist I don’t always have the material I want, but I manage well with what I have!
Do you only paint on walls? Or did you paint other objects as well? On the one hand I mean canvases, so do you also paint on canvases or paper? But also other objects like cars, guitars, furniture or whatever. What surface have you already painted on and what do you prefer to paint on?
I’ve painted on various surfaces, cars, walls, canvases, refrigerators, hats, shirts, sneakers, tables, mirrors, I love painting any surface that fascinates me. However if there is any surface that I want to paint it would be outside Brazil, a mural in another country!
Tell me a little more about your local street art scene. How is it in your place, how is it in this huge metropolitan of São Paulo. Are there places to paint legally? Is it heavily criminalized for painting illegally?
My scene is that of an independent artist, I’ve always been around here and there, I’ve been living off graffiti lace for 10 years now. I’ve been doing graffiti around the city and there’s always someone I like who asks for an art, also on weekends I expose my paintings in Beco do Batman, a reference of street art in São Paulo. Here in São Paulo there are not many authorized walls or the possibility to get artists here who ask for authorization from the owners. I already suffers a penalty for illegally graffiti and I had to pay a fine of 800 Reis (around 120 US-Dollar or 100 Euro). But it was nothing that stopped me! My house is small, but it is all covered with graffiti and with several paintings and sprays around the house!
Are you a member of a crew or a collective? Or do you prefer to paint alone? Tell us about collaborations and art that you do with other artists.
I usually do my graffiti alone, but there are times when I participate in graffiti projects where collabs (art with other artists) are done. The last project was in the community of Heliopoles with the project “A turn of colors” where graffiti artists gave graffiti classes in the community and in schools in the region.
If other artists or those interested in art come to Sao Paulo and want to do or see graffiti, which places would you recommend? Where to go in Sao Paulo to see graffiti and street art?
In São Paulo there are several places where you can see art or street art, ie modern art museum, contemporary art, open-air graffiti galleries, one of the most famous is Beco do Batman in Vila Madalena, the flow the number of tourists in this region is very high and the consumption of art as well, but even in the extremes of São Paulo it is possible to see graffiti on the wall.
You live and paint in Sao Paulo. Are there any other cities or places in Brazil besides Sao Paulo where you can admire your works of art?
I really like traveling and wherever I go I try to somehow leave my art, I’ve done graffiti in several cities in Brazil, some of them are, Parati, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba, Sapucai Mirim, São Tome das Letras, Camburi das Pedras, Pouso da Cajaiba and others.
You wrote that you would like to paint in other countries as well. Do you already have any works of art outside of Brazil? And in which countries would you like to paint?
I have a lot of paintings that I painted and went to other countries like Portugal, United States, Germany, Colombia and France and there is a work that was going to the United States but was lost, so it could be anywhere in the world!! And the countries I want to paint are all but I could start with Colombia, Chile, Germany, Spain, Holland, United States, Mexico, there are so many.
Are there also street art and graffiti exhibitions in Sao Paulo? Have you already had an exhibition yourself? In many big cities around the world there are more and more galleries that not only exhibit urban art, but that even specialize in it. But these places are mostly alternative places and designed very differently from the commercial galleries and museums. Are there places like this in Sao Paulo that you can recommend?
Yes, there is a cool place that I can recommend is BECO DO BATMAN, a very special place for street art, so much so that on weekends I put my paintings on display in the alley, in addition to having several street art galleries around the alley it also has bars and restaurants where tourists from all over the world enjoy gastronomy and art. Batman’s alley is in Vila Madalena in São Paulo, but in SP there are many other places where you can find Graffiti, actually all over the city!
Your art and the way you answer shows that you want to have a positive effect on other people with your art and your work. Are you active in other social organizations or projects besides art? Are there charitable and good projects in your community that need support and that people should know more about?
I’ve done a lot of social work, from graffiti workshops in schools to projects in needy communities and psychiatric hospitals. I believe that what impressed me the most was the Work at the hospital, where I applied art as a form of evolution and therapy to patients and the positive transformation that art causes in each one is incredible.
You wrote that art is medicine. I agree. It helps to be creative yourself and it also helps if you observe creative things. It stimulates the brain and thinking, it brings people to different thoughts. People often live in a gray cage, which is only supplemented by the gray walls of the houses. If you like to be creative, then it is almost a duty to bring more color into this gray. I think you do your art because you enjoy it, but you also see it as an important task for society. What do you think of my interpretation?
Your interpretation is correct and I liked it too! Art for me is healing, and my mission is to help heal the world, gray for me is empty of joy, a quiet voice, a breathless lung, I like the colors in my work because it always causes a positive stimulus…. The gray being taken over by the colors!!! and thus helping each one’s inner source to gush out again!
There are many creative people in the world who may have just started being creative, or are about to, but then refuse to do it or let themselves be intimidated. Likewise, there are many creative artists who have been making art for a long time but have grown tired of the world. I see so much energy in you and I get a lot of positive energy just by dealing with your pictures. Finally, tell us a few motivating words for the readers. How do you go on when the time gets tough? Where do you get your energy from, what gives you strength?
I once had to choose whether to be a normal person or to make art, to let out what my heart was full!!! And brother, for me art is divine, my name Daniel means God is my judge, so everything I do, I bend my knee to the ground and pray, I try to strengthen my faith in this greater God, in this energy that I have never seen but feel all the time !! And difficult moments are a test to see if we really love what we do, a time to evolve, reflect and act!! I believe that God knows our heart, knows how much love we have to share and whenever it is necessary love wins !!!
INFOTHEK
Artist: DANIEL BAZCO
Email: danielbazco2009@hotmail.com
Facebook – Page: https://www.facebook.com/bazcoarts
Facebook – Profile: https://ww.facebook.com/daniel.bazco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielbazco
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/daniel-bazco
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WV2NhfQrr-x3_kg8ti8Fw
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