Eduardo Kobra (Carlos Eduardo Fernandes Léo, born August 27, 1975, in São Paulo, Brazil) is a leading figure in São Paulo’s neo-avant-garde. His talent emerged around 1987, on the outskirts of São Paulo, and soon spread throughout the city. As urban art developed in São Paulo, his work converged, through Studio Kobra, created in the 1990s, into an original form of mural painting, drawing on his strengths as an experimental artist, a strong designer, and a skilled realist painter. In this way, he developed the project “Walls of Memory”, which aims to transform the urban landscape through art and bring back the city's memories. A synthesis of his peculiar creative process, whereby he paints but also pastes, overlays, and intervenes in scenes and characters from the first decades of the twentieth century, this project is a combination of nostalgia and modernity, resulting in scenographic paintings, some of them monumental. Through these portals, he evokes nostalgic moments from the city’s past. The largest of these murals, measuring 1,000 m², was created in 2009 on Avenida 23 de Maio in celebration of the anniversary of São Paulo.
Kobra presents works that are rich in line, light and shadow. The result is a series of three-dimensional murals that allow the public to interact with the work. The idea is to establish a comparison between the romantic air and the atmosphere of nostalgia, against the constant turmoil characteristic of large cities like São Paulo today.
At the same time, Kobra takes part in exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, and he also conducts research on the use of recycled materials and new technologies such as 3D painting on pavements. In Patriarca Square, in São Paulo, the artist created the first 3D painting on a pavement in Brazil.
The anamorphic technique seems to “deceive the eye”; the painting may appear distorted at a certain angle, but when viewed from the correct angle, as determined by the artist, it “becomes” three-dimensional, featuring an amazing range of depth and realism. The artist’s latest project, called “Green Pincel”, aims to artistically combat the various types of assault by humankind against nature and the environment.
