Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira

ZEBRA PORTRAIT

Where Dream Meets Reality Surrealist artist Ferjo creates a whimsical world of contradictions. A fish and strawberry adorn the canvas to represent life; a butterfly is suspended in the air to represent freedom. And such is the multifaceted work of Brazilian-born artist Ferjo, whose art—created in his signature Surrealist style—make up a body of work as diverse as the items floating in his artwork. “A teacher at my school told me I had something that nobody had—this ability to paint portraits and landscapes,” the artist says. “It’s more difficult because there are millions of artists who paint classically. That’s why I paint ‘dream and reality.’ There’s almost a classical theme, and at the same time, it’s a dream when you look at it.” Born Fernando de Jesus Oliveira, Ferjo was raised in São Paulo, Brazil, where his artistic skills were recognized early on. In 1974, the young artist was invited to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on an exchange program after being commissioned to produce a portrait of an American family. The artist considers his time in school beneficial but believes true artistic talent comes from within. After a stint producing portraits for the Brazilian Board of Tourism, he left his country to take up permanent residence in the United States, where he joined forces with publisher Katherina Perry in 1994. Like many great contemporary painters, influences from Dali and Picasso, among other Masters, are evident in his art, but Ferjo takes it a step further in a series dedicated to the artists in which their famous works appear as paintings on the walls of his Surreal worlds. “Those are the artists that inspire me, and I pay tribute to them,” he says. “I put their paint in my paint.”