In the lead up to the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil this evening, Jenny McPhee’s post, Vidigal, Rio de Janeiro celebrates the vibrant creativity of a city in trouble. “There was much to admire in Rio–the range, number, and quality of their neighborhoods, museums, bookstores (they even sell books in vending machines in the subway), and restaurants was beyond impressive; and much to regret–the pollution, the crime, the political morass–shared by too many global cities. But the best part of our short stay in Rio was getting to know just a little bit the neighborhood where we were staying.” Jenny includes lots of great photographs of street art in her post.
For more public art, the French artist known as JR, returned to work in Rio de Janeiro prior to the Olympics. His work feels right at home there. In this excerpt from the Widewalls Artist of the Week slot, Natalija Paunić remarks that, “His latest project consists of two huge installations in Rio de Janeiro, completed as part of the Inside Out project, but executed in a completely fresh manner. Instead of pasting his photographs onto buildings or walls, JR decided to install his huge canvases across construction scaffolds, one of which is placed on top of a building, and the other one is facing the ocean. Having the spirit of the Olympic Games in mind, the fact that JR is currently in Rio, working and collaborating with the locals on his Inside Out project, does not come as a surprise.”
If we can’t be in Rio painting murals, or collaborating on public art projects, there’s always learning Portuguese or taking art classes at CALA.
Courses of Interest this Fall
English-Portuguese & Portuguese to English Translation Courses