São Paulo – Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra has been working with street art for over 30 years and has painted murals in around 40 countries on five continents. In the United Arab Emirates, he crafted five large-format works. Currently, he has canvases on display at the Eden Gallery in Dubai and is receiving new invitations from the Gulf country and other Arab nations, such as Saudi Arabia.
Kobra was born on the outskirts of São Paulo, in the Campo Limpo neighborhood, and is self-taught in arts. At 46, he continues to work and produce works worldwide. “I received a new [work] proposal from the UAE and contact from Saudi Arabia for a series of murals. All projects are discussed with the parties and studied step by step, and I continue to produce this kind of work,” Kobra told ANBA. Kobra informed ANBA that he is currently assessing about 20 international invitations.
Six canvases by the Brazilian artist are on display at the Eden Gallery. “These are works specifically crafted with motifs related to Dubai and the entire UAE. There is a little bit of the local culture etched in these works. I did a little research, a little creation, a little poetic license. They are unique works, paintings I have been developing for about five months, and they are on exhibition in this new gallery in Dubai,” said Kobra. Some of the canvases are originals from the murals the artist produced in the region. “Each mural has a canvas, a hand-painted representation,” he said.
In addition to the works in the UAE, Kobra produced a canvas in honor of Lebanon after the explosion in Beirut in August 2020. “I created a piece and put it up for auction, and with the sale, we donated all the funds to help affected families in the region. This was important because of the respect I have for the citizens, the families, and the affectionate and kind feedback I received from several people who found out about it,” he said.
Artwork in the UAE
Kobra said he received invitations to paint in the UAE with great enthusiasm. “We receive media information through books, stories, films, documentaries, and this is often very far from reality, of being present and relating. So, there are a lot of ideas about the Arab world from people who have never actually been there. For me, mainly because of the language of my work and the idea it brings of relating to peoples, cultures, and traditions; I had this enthusiasm, this desire to be there and see with my own eyes, learn, get to know, visit the places, understand more about the culture, habits, and traditions,” declared the artist.
The first invitation to the UAE was to participate in a festival called Dubai Canvas 3D Art Award in Dubai in 2015. “I am one of the pioneers in Brazil to carry out this work of tridimensional paintings on the floor, so it was exceptional because, in addition to an incredible receptivity, we had coverage by the local media during the crafting of the work, not least because it was a novelty in the region,” said the artist. One of the challenges for him and his team was painting the floor in the 40-degree heat. The painting is no longer on display.
Next, Kobra was asked to paint the side of a building. For this work, he said he researched more about the country’s history, and with that, he painted ‘The Bedouin,’ also in 2015. The mural remains on the building until the present day.
In 2016 came a new invitation to paint a mural on an old staircase in Dubai, in Jumeirah. “They offered this space, which was the most privileged they had there at that time, and I created a work entitled ‘The Legend of the Arabian Horse’ and presented it to them. There was a fountain there too, and I made this connection of the fountain that releases water where the six horses are running. It is a work that is still there today,” Kobra said.
According to the muralist, the work with the horses on the staircase opened doors for other projects. “I did another project in this tridimensional version, which was based on the idea the UAE emerged from the avant-garde vision of reaching a desert place and transforming it into a true oasis, so I put a little boy, symbolizing the first sheiks building one of the icons of the UAE on the sand [the Burj Al Arab],” he said. In the opening picture, the artist with the mural’ Dream of a boy,’ created for an event in 2017. A canvas of the original art is on display in the Eden gallery.
In the year of Tolerance in the UAE, 2019, Kobra carried out his last project in the Gulf country. He received an invitation from the government to paint the largest mural in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi. “This panel depicts people from different countries who live in the region, demystifying many misconceptions, showing the reception, openness, and contact with other cultures,” said Kobra.
For this work, the artist spent almost two months in the region. “It was impressive because I was able to visit the homes of some people who live there, they invited me to dinner, I went to a wedding, it was awesome. Also, I was able to visit stunning art spaces, like the Louvre Museum. I was impressed. Also, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, with all that marble, chandeliers, and the handmade carpet. I was instigated, very interested in the tradition, culture, and respect they have for faith in God, for discipline; I found it very interesting,” he said.
In addition to his artistic work, Kobra is also dedicated to his institute and social projects. “I have worked with governments, cities, town halls, galleries, in addition to the panels I made voluntarily, in Africa and India, and I continue to make an effort, opening doors and following my work step by step,” he says. Kobra’s institute is under development. It will operate in projects related to humanitarian aid, environmental issues, and social transformation through art.
Quick facts:
Eden Gallery
Fashion Av – The Dubai Mall – Unit FF – 290 – 58 Financial Center Rd.
Downtown Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
