Hrag Vartanian

My interview with Tito Na Rua just went live on Brazil NYC, New York’s Brazilian website for events & culture:

A singular voice in the Brazilian street art scene, Tito Na Rua (website) has been using the streets of Rio de Janeiro as a venue for his Ze Ninguem (Joe Nobody) graphic novel, known as As Aventuras de Zé Ninguém e Cão Viralata, which he describes as “comics about the street on the street.”

Here’s a snippet:

How is street art different in Brazil that the stuff we see in the States? What are some distinctive characteristic?

I’ve only begun to really notice and look at the streets, and the artists. But I have heard some people say that Brazil, now, is like New York in the 80’s. There is good energy, and lots of events. They do all the basic Graffiti, tagging, throw-ups and letters. They have a big interest in characters, vector-like drawings, textures and design. New York still has the bombing and tagging intact. It also has all these art school project type of things always popping up.

Check out the evolving Ze Ninguem series (33 images) here. The artist says he plans to grow the series to 101 images and “…because of the nature of it, finding the right walls for the right strips, it takes a little more time to prepare.”