The Boys - Jean Carlos Piña Sará - 2. May 2011 Print

"The Boys" (100x100)

The painting Two Boys is made in the favela Fogueteiro, two boys on a roof of a slum house.

http://www.idea-society.org/img/Gallery_Pina_Sara/j3.jpg

One would never guess the hardships these children had gone through just by looking into their eyes staring at the viewer from the top of a roof. The roof is a common place to be in a favela. There is where one can see the world from above and rule it just for a few minutes while chaos reigns beneath.   For these children this is a rare moment of peace and contemplation into the future in a world where childhood finds no boundaries to violence, corruption and death. This could come too soon and quickly erase the dreams and hopes for a life with dignity.


The color red washes itself away into the boy’s clothes and finally blends into the words that remind us of their past, their heritage, which are written on this painting “ sou negro, sim senhor” (“yes sir, I am black”). The future is yet to be deciphered, and maybe to be written in great bold letters on a public wall instead of a graffiti in the corner of a painting.  The boy’s eyes look into this future reflecting ephemeral ideals and dreams vanishing once they step down from the safety of the roof.


The painting successfully reaches the audience and shares hopes and dreams in the mist of the violent red paint. During a brief moment there is something to be admired from the rooftop and great things to be wished for within a world that finds no mercy on the lives of children.


Alexandra von Ungern-Sternberg

 

http://www.idea-society.org/img/Gallery_Pina_Sara/Jean_PANGAEA.jpg

The acquisition of this painting was realized together with cultural cooperation partner of the IDEA Society in Rio de Janeiro, Atelier Favela, thanks to Sabine Harmes.