Image: Ezequias, Colhedor de Bananas (Banana Picker) (2007)

For our Saturday art posts we remain focused on the theme of where food comes from. The piece we highlight today comes from Brazil.

Colhedor de Bananas or Banana Picker is by a Brazilian artist, Ezequias, who came of age in the seventies and gained some traction in the 1990s. Before passing away a few years ago, he wrote of himself:

“I began to paint in the 1970s at the peak of the hippie movement in Alagoas, the northeastern Brazilian state where I was born. In that epoch I was unable to find work as a technician of electrical engineering, and in order to earn a living I painted psychedelic designs on jeans and backpacks sold by a friend of mine.

“I am self-taught, and I’ve never had anybody to orient me about the materials to be used. Books were my main source of information for a long time. My first exhibition was in 1975 in a convent, and it caused a fury because I presented nude designs. On that occasion I met Fernando Bismarck, a painter from Alagoas who opened doors for me in the art market.”

This piece is available for purchase on the UNICEF site.

###

Thanks for reading. If you are in the D.C. area and looking for a place to eat keep us in mind. When we are not posting about art, we are a dining guide for the District with 300+ recommended restaurants in the guide, that you can sort by cuisine, neighborhood, and current operating status (dine-in and/or take-out, etc.) in either LIST or MAP format.  Though operating status is changing day-to-day, so be sure to double-check.

If you would like to make sure you don’t miss out on our postings about either art or food, then please give us a follow.  We are on FB, Insta, and Twitter.  Click on the icons at the top or bottom of this page to stay up to date.