1963-
Wherever in the world you go, especially if you have an eye out for art, you are likely to see the cheerful, colorful paintings and sculpture of the Brazilian superstar Romero Britto. If you are among the millions who love these Pop-inflected works, you are not alone. Among his collectors are such celebrities as Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Andre Agassi along with former President Barack Obama. His audience is vast, thanks to public commissions for the O2 Dome in Berlin, Hyde Park in London, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Cirque du Soleil at Super Bowl XLI, the Olympics, the World Cup, and Walt Disney. He was one of the first of the all-star roster of artists, including Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, who collaborated with Absolut vodka on their award-winning print advertisements and labels. Not only is his art shown in museums, galleries and corporations in more than a hundred countries, his imagery is licensed as much or more than any artist in history. Britto is an art empire with outposts everywhere.
If there is one reason for this ubiquitous and universal appeal, it is the childlike innocence of his vision coupled with a heart-warming romanticism. Chances are you have seen someone or something kissing in one of his paintings, perhaps happy kittens, puppies or fish, or newlyweds surrounded by hearts. Like Valentine’s Day cards to the world, he sends these messages of love out to all corners of the globe.
READ MORE +Like his countryman Pele, the soccer football phenomenon who started in poverty, Britto rose from straitened circumstances. He was born in 1963 in Recife, one of nine children but even at age eight, he was a budding artist. His mom spanked him for drawing all over his notebooks because she couldn’t just go out and buy new ones. So Britto started doodling and painting on scrap paper and cardboard. He was only 14 when he was chosen for a group show in Recife presented by the Organization of American States. He scored a scholarship to college, and one thing led to another. Eventually he had the opportunity, like all fortunate artists, to visit Paris, the city of Pablo Picasso and Henry Matisse. This brush with the Modern masters, and the revolutionary idea of Cubism, changed his work forever.
In 1988, Britto immigrated to Miami. His first big break in America was being tapped to design the 25th-anniversary Absolut vodka ad campaign, joining the distinguished roster they had commissioned since their first Warhol bottle, a milestone in the relationship between art and advertising that recalls the great masters who were commissioned by the Rothschild family, who own their own Britto works, to create designs for their wine labels (Picasso, Matisse, Balthus, Chagall, Dali, Braque and even Prince Charles have contributed to the series).
A child of hardship, Britto has generously leveraged his fame and success in the service of philanthropic causes. He created his own foundation to support humanitarian efforts on behalf of children worldwide, and has unstintingly contributed his time and talent to more than 250 non-profit causes, such as the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, Best Buddies International, the World Economic and Development Fund, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “Art can really be an agent of change,” Britto says. “It can be inspiring and bring people together. I am blessed, because I have this gift where I can create art and bring people together with my art.”
Britto’s bustling studio is in the internationally renowned Wynwood Arts district of Miami, a neighborhood featuring painters and murals that draws millions of tourists each year.
Your first thought when you look at Romero Britto’s work is that he has learned the lesson of Pop very well. The firm graphic lines, the intense colors, the rhythmic patterns all invoke the classic Pop vocabulary laid down by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in the Sixties and now espoused by the “super-flat” Pop art of Murakami and others in Asia. The cloisonne-like effect of primary colors surrounded by strong black outlines gives them their graphic punch.
But a closer look recalls that seminal trip to Paris he took, because the lovers’ faces for instance have an angular Cubist look that he has clearly adopted from Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris. Britto departs from their somber palettes of brown, grey, black and white to fill these works with a high-toned palette of golds, reds and vivid greens. They all serve that essential optimism that is essential a way Britto expresses himself and his own outlook: “I hope when people see my art they have a big smile on their face and a huge one in their heart,” Britto says.
Romero Britto: Accomplishments
Britto: Museum Exhibitions
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