Werllayne Nunes
The Best of the Best Juried Art Exhibition, 2017
Werllayne Nunes
Exhibiting Artist
Pepco Edison Place Gallery
702 8th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20068
August 11 - 30, 2017
Exhibiting Artist
Pepco Edison Place Gallery
702 8th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20068
August 11 - 30, 2017
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Bio
Werllayne Nunes is a self-taught painter from Anapolis, Goias, Brazil. Currently based in the United States, he began painting at 8 years old when his father gave him his first box of oil paints and brushes. When he left Brazil to study medicine, he continued to paint and eventually decided to devote himself full-time to his art. Influenced by extensive travel, his artwork provides counter-narratives to the media’s depiction of marginalized communities in Brazil and other African diasporic countries. His paintings have been shown in galleries, museums, and public spaces in Brazil, Spain, and the United States.
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Artist Statement
"Faces, colors, and cultural traditions from my native Brazil and other African diasporic countries are the subjects of my current series of paintings. My work challenges the ways in which the media portray people who are marginalized because of their race and social class. Popular images and narratives offer a one-dimensional perspective that stereotypes people as powerless because of their social and economic conditions and fails to recognize their personal power. To counter such representations, I create portraits of empowerment in which I lift figures out of their depicted contexts and place them in colorful backgrounds that recall patterns of contemporary design. I use this visual strategy to create a visual magical realism characterized by two perspectives—reality and imagination. The purpose is not to romanticize poverty or other social ills, but to depict the complex lives of the people who live these realities."
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