Interview with TOSKO

by Amanda Vox

TOSKO (Fernando Pimentel) is a Brazilian multimedia artist and art educator who lives and works in Limeira, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo. His work crosses the boundaries separating street and fine arts. In this interview Tosko tells us a little about his career trajectory and about what shapes his practice and his art.

Tosko, what kind of education/ training has helped you develop the skills needed to become a visual artist? Tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are at.

I begun my [artistic] trajectory during secondary school¹ in the mid-2000s, without any vocation for the arts, no history of relatives that were artists or were into drawing, and least of all any support from my mother. The truth is I was a capoeirista² (a sport I practised for 20 years) and I believed that was my future. But arriving at a new school I came across a group of kids that did pichações³ and enjoyed drawing the famous throw ups, so I slowly got interested and began to study graffiti and the hip hop universe on the sly, painting and creating my own designs, always trying to deal with some kind of theme, some message or idea of the world, but I didn’t study art history, just graffiti.

I studied graphic design in university, there I came across Art History as a discipline and realised I knew nothing at all about art, artists, art movements, and everything that permeates this universe, so, like someone realising they’ve arrived late at the party, I dove into the study of the many “-isms”, and into this huge universe that is art and its many possibilities. Soon after this reality shock I started working in social projects and graffiti workshops and I saw the possibility of teaching art in schools. So I went on to get a full degree in art teaching, and I’ve been teaching the subject for 15 years, meanwhile I also worked on a post-graduate course in History of Art. To summarize, I started to paint by chance, then naturally and quite slowly I went on marking my path within the visual arts.

Who have been your artistic ‘role models’ or ‘idols’ (even if their style isn’t reflected in your work)? What artistic traditions would you say have had the biggest influence over your work and practice?

There are many artists I admire and that have in one way or another helped shape my work. In the graffiti world I very much admire the Brazilians OsGêmeos, Speto, Vitché, Paulo Ito, Titi Freak among others.From abroad I like the work of Alexis Diaz, Inti, Aryz, Saner, Interesni Kazki. Now, outside the urban art universe I am a fan of Vincent Van Gogh for his vibrant colours, I enjoy the drawing styles of Egon Schiele and [Toulouse] Lautrec, the composition, colours and symbols of Gustav Klimt, and the symbolism of René Magrite and Frida Khalo.

What kind of artist would you say you are?

I often catch myself thinking about this. The truth is I don’t know what kind of artist I am, or how to define what I make. I don’t believe I belong to an artistic movement, not even within urban art, but I’d define myself as a symbolist. After all, my work moves towards this symbolic field, the unreal. Anyway, without knowing what it is supposed to be [in advance] I just make it, naturally and without worrying about classifications.

Where does the impulse to create art come from?

I believe it comes from my life experience and all that surrounds me, family, work, dreams, ideals, frustrations, etc. All that’s what moves me towards making [art] and creating symbols.

Tell us about the experience of making art in the countryside of São Paulo / in Brazil, i.e. outside the dominant economic and cultural centres of Europe and the US. How do you navigate the art market?

It is very frustrating sometimes, and here in the countryside I’m often disappointed with the general mindset and the way artistic production as a whole isn’t valued, not just my segment, but in general. I try to show my work online, through social media, and in this way I manage to close some deals, but it is something very home made, with all the problems that come from not being a “pop-star” in this digital universe.

I believe many have the ambition of taking their work abroad; I have tried – responding to artists’ calls, competitions for international exhibitions, etc – but with little success, and I suspect that is the case because my work is not particularly well known worldwide. But who knows, maybe one day (laughs) [I’ll be able to] sell my work in currencies that are better valued than the real.⁴

The old problem of not being well-known enough to get well-known!

Now I was going to ask the indiscreet question: are you able to live off your work as an artist? But you have already told us you work as an art teacher.

Sadly I don’t make a living out of my own artistic production. I work as an art teacher at a school, and in my free time I study, do my research and produce my [art] work. I’d love to say in this interview that I live exclusively off making art. Even as I teach, I am fulfilling the plans of those in charge and not my own dreams of being all day at the studio, producing art and making sales. Right now I’m represented by two galleries here in the country. One located at Beco do Batman, in São Paulo (Galeria Ziv), the other is in Balneário Camboriú(Galeria Cosmos).⁵

What would you say are the main obstacles Brazilian visual artists (specially the ones coming from outside the main centres) have to overcome in order to develop a career?

As we are in the middle of this pandemic at the moment business is lukewarm – with the general crisis the country is going through due to the current government and the lack of foresight in public management.

There is also the fact that much cultural production is seen as a [less important] subcategory when compared to other, more popular, cultural products that are huge here in Brazil, such as country music, soap operas, reality shows, digital influencers, etc.

Not to mention the ‘trend’ artists, who base their artistic production on trends coming from fashion or design, they modify the work according to market pressures – which I think is detrimental to those producing art.

I have seen lots of images of your work and noticed a mix of street art, paintings on canvas and, more recently, sculpture. What materials do you like to use?

I tend to use whatever materials I have at hand, or what I can get, so I usually have to adapt and see what I can do with what I’ve got.

In my paintings, both on the street and at the studio, I use a water-based synthetic enamel, colourants and acrylic paint. In the sculptures I usually use a synthetic clay (like an industrial papier-mâché) and depending on the work I also use wood, plastic, etc.

Street art is seen as an essentially rebellious and politically engaged art category. Would you say your work has a political side or carries some kind of social message?

Yes, to be painting on the street in a way puts you in a position of having something to say, as things are happening right there around you. But I don’t work with a political “side” in my art, though of course it is political to the extent that I have class consciousness. In my production I strive to speak, even if symbolically, of themes related to the human and the way we live together with other species and the whole natural universe that surrounds us.

I think it is really interesting the way your works depict these hybrid creatures – a crazy mix of humans, plants, and animals of all kinds – and how it seems to have a connection with environmental themes. In my view, this mixture contests notions of separation and dissolves traditionally established hierarchies between human and non-human.

Could you tell us a little about your reasons behind this mix, and the ideas you want to convey?

My work consists in dealing with the human and the relations it establishes, be it with individuals of the same species or with all other living creatures or nature in its totality. The work is symbolist in character, so there is a study of symbols, mythology, folklore, shamanism, and of the peoples that utilize this kind of language, so that every animal depicted has a symbolic relationship with the theme I have in mind.

Sometimes I can’t find the right symbols, so I have to go on and create them, seeing art permits us this freedom.

I use animals as the top part of [the body of] these humanoid characters as a way of talking about instinct, where the animal instinct may prevail over the human. Like the relationship and the difference in the mythologies of the Minotaur and the Centaur, both are hybrids, but each act in different ways due to the “position” of the animal in the myth.⁶ There are also [formal] elements that help with the composition, such as flowers, outer space, wings, multiple limbs (arms and legs), and the character’s pose.

What guides your choice when it comes to the species you include?

Sometimes I research the symbolic connections of a certain animal and the works follows, but sometimes I don’t have that kind of information, so I go on building these symbolic associations. I choose animals that have some sort of relation to the theme I am approaching. For example, if I want to talk about something related to freedom, I might use some kind of bird, for what the idea of flying means to us, or if I’m talking about wisdom I might use a baboon or some other primate, so the work develops from there.

Despite the many different species composing them, and the various objects your characters bring along, often they are shown floating or dancing over an expansion of colour, in an anonymous space. How significant is this displacement of the individual (who is multiple) towards a neutral space, in contrast with a specific place?

This movement of lightness is something that recurs in my work, I like [the idea of] this sensation of the feet hovering above the ground. The colours are applied as I gradually think and develop the work. Sometimes I have a sketch, but I usually paint without a sketch, so the work develops organically.

Many of your works depict small bottles, sometimes they contain little creatures, sometimes they hold whole universes. Could you tell us more about this, why so many bottles? By now I suspect they have some kind of symbolic meaning in your work.

The “bottled ones” are sort of characters, or situations, that are put away in a small space, and it is possible [for us] to look inside. In relation to the little universes, I just think it is very interesting to think about all that can fit inside a bottle.

Very Men In Black (laughs).

And Tosko, what are your plans for the future (in relation to exhibitions, new media, materials, plans for taking over the world…)?

I only plan to paint, to sculpt, to draw, and to come out alive on the other side of this chaos we are living through.

https://www.instagram.com/fernandotosko

https://www.instagram.com/zivgallery/

https://www.instagram.com/galeriacosmos/

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Footnotes:

1^ Called ensino médio in Brazil.

2^ Capoeira is a Brazilian cultural expression that mixes martial arts, sport, popular culture, dance and music; capoeirista is the person who practices capoeira.

3^ Pichação (s.), pichações (pl.): a unique, Brazilian form of tagging found characterized by its distinct, cryptic style.

4^ Real (s.), reais (pl.), Brazilian currency; as of 13/Apr/2021 £1 equals R$ 7.89.

5^ Beco do Batman (or “Batman’s alley”) is the nickname of an area within the neighbourhood of Vila Madalena, in the city of São Paulo. It is famous for its high concentration of graffiti works, and it has become a popular tourist destination.
Balneário Camboriú is a major beach resort city in the Brazilian southern state of Santa Catarina.

6^ The Minotaur has the head of a bull and a human body, whereas the Centaur has the head and torso of a human and the body and legs of a horse.