The annual Bayou City Art Festival Downtown is Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 14-15, 2017). The festival showcases the work of numerous local artists, including Tony Paraná, a Brazilian artist who now calls Houston home.
He recently unveiled a new piece inspired by his adopted hometown, and it will be the featured artwork for the downtown festival.
The painting features Houston’s skyline in the background, blended with a scene of children playing around water fountains at Discovery Green. It also features some elements of his home country: the children are practicing capoeira – a Brazilian form of martial arts – and there’s a favela visible between skyscrapers – those are cramped, often impoverished neighborhoods seen in Brazilian cities.
Paraná tells Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty about his work, about life growing up in a favela, and the piece that will be showcased at the festival.
