r e p o r t
r e p o r t
r e p o r t
ArtNow
Edition 09
September 2025
The Pictorial Flight of
The Pictorial Flight of
The Pictorial Flight of
Petterson Silva
Petterson Silva
Petterson Silva
IN PETTERSON SILVA’S
PAINTINGS, THE MOMENT
BECOMES ETERNAL.
EVERY FEATHER, EVERY
GLINT OF LIGHT IN A
MACAW’S EYE,
every shadow cast by the curve of its wings — all are captured with an almost
impossible precision, as if the artist had learned not only to observe, but to breathe
in rhythm with nature itself. His hyperrealism is not mere technique; it is a form of
devotion.
Raised among the deep greens and winding rivers of Mato Grosso, Petterson grew up
in constant dialogue with the forest. Fishing, watching, and listening to the piercing
calls of parrots, admiring Indigenous graphics and feather art, he understood early
on that nature is not a backdrop — it is a presence. This intimacy with the landscape
shaped not only his vision, but also his palette. In his canvases, the Amazon is not
simply painted — it pulses with life.
Influenced by masters like Portinari, Titian, and Caravaggio, he learned to build
narratives with light and shadow. The chiaroscuro he employs doesn’t just highlight
form; it dramatizes the experience. A toucan’s flight might emerge from a dense
penumbra, as if crossing the threshold between the visible and the imagined.
Petterson is not content with the fidelity of an image. He seeks the fidelity
of emotion. He will spend days observing a bird, absorbing its posture, its
gestures, the chromatic vibration that only patient watching can
decipher. When he paints, he does not merely reproduce — he interprets.
That is why his works, though meticulously exact, are anything but cold.
They carry warmth, rhythm, and a vital breath that escapes the canvas.
Internationally recognized, Petterson Silva has earned awards that testify
to his talent and dedication — from First Place at the Brazilian Art Salon in
Liechtenstein, to the Giulio Cesare Prize in Rome, to the Top of Mind
International Award in London. His work transcends borders, carrying the
essence of his art far beyond the Amazon.
Spirituality is his quiet foundation. A devout Christian, he sees painting as
a prayer translated into color. “Painting is expressing gratitude,” he says —
and perhaps it is this reverence that explains the absence of arrogance in
his flawless technique. He knows that every tone, every detail, is, above all,
a gift borrowed from divine creation.
To stand before one of his works is not simply to recognize the beauty of a
species — it is to feel called to protect it. Petterson’s hyperrealism is also
an ecological manifesto — not didactic, but deeply felt. He reminds us
that the survival of these birds depends on human choices, and that art
can serve as a bridge between wonder and awareness.
In the Amazon, life is made of rare encounters. Petterson’s meeting with
his art is one of them. His paintings record not just what the eyes see, but
what memory longs to preserve. And in doing so, they turn every viewer
into a witness of a flight that does not end when the frame closes.
Instagram: @pettersonarte
Editorial
Art Now Report is a magazine dedicated to
the dissemination of contemporary art in all
its forms and expressions. Our goal is to
provide our readers with a unique and
comprehensive
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art
world,
featuring emerging and established artists,
inspiring exhibitions, critical analysis and
insights into the trends of the current art
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the vibrant universe of artistic creation.
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Bernardo David
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Awaken your creativity. Welcome to ArtNow Report.
September 2025
Ceramics
Painting
Sculpture
Photography
Faces of the Forest
Faces of the Forest
Faces of the Forest
Bernardo David
Bernardo David
Bernardo David
Art history is filled with images that gaze upon Indigenous peoples. Bernardo David’s art is
about the moment they gaze back. The face on this issue’s cover is not an object for
ethnographic contemplation — it’s a subject that confronts us. Here, hyperrealist technique
isn’t about the vanity of virtuosity, but about something far deeper and more radical: making
that child’s presence so undeniable, so viscerally human, that every distance — geographic,
cultural, historical — collapses. This is the essence of Bernardo David’s work: using precision as
a tool for dignity, turning painting into an act of recognition.
His mastery wasn’t born in academies, but shaped in the unhurried rhythm of Tiradentes, the
historic town in Minas Gerais where he moved as a teenager. There, in studios and on the
veranda of his home, he learned to “observe everything around him,” developing the
discipline and patience that would become the signature of his work. His virtuosity is not the
destination, but the vehicle for a deeper pursuit — one of essence beyond appearance.
In his hands, hyperrealism becomes a form of reverence. In a world flooded with
fast, disposable images that often exoticize Indigenous peoples, dedicating
hundreds of hours to capturing the singularity of a face is both poetic and
political. It’s an act of profound respect, giving back to the subject the time and
attention they’ve been historically denied. When painting the peoples of the
Amazon, Bernardo is not documenting an ethnicity; he’s using his mastery to
immortalize the strength, individuality, and humanity of each person.
His ability to translate that essence onto any surface was recently
confirmed by his award-winning venture into the world of tattooing.
Whether on canvas or skin, what remains is his gift for capturing the
spirit behind the form — a talent that transcends medium and rests in
the depth of his gaze.
Now, life brings the artist a new and greater project: fatherhood. It’s
impossible not to draw a parallel between the profound attention he
gives his subjects and the attention he now gives his daughter, Bella.
Bernardo David’s art, by forcing us to linger on a face, invites us to
rediscover our shared humanity. It’s a legacy of empathy and presence
that he now expands — as an artist and as a father — reminding us that
perhaps the most radical act is simply to pay attention, and to recognize
the sovereignty of those who dare to look back at us.
Instagram: @bernardodavid.art
In Elson Júnior’s hands, the everyday ballpoint pen becomes a tool of protest, reverence, and
reconnection. His bold, intimate lines reveal worlds we often choose not to see. With it, he tells
silenced stories, redraws faces erased by official history, and rebuilds bridges between who
we were, who we are, and what we must protect. Now, his artistic gesture turns to the Amazon
—not as an exotic backdrop, but as sacred land, a living body, ancestral and urgent.
In this special edition of ArtNow Report, dedicated to the forest that beats like the heart of the
planet, Elson presents a series of works honoring Indigenous peoples. Through his drawings,
Indigenous figures emerge with strength and subtlety—not as stereotypes, but as undeniable
presences that demand recognition. These are bodies that carry the rhythm of the forest, the
wisdom of rivers, and the resilience rooted in the earth. These are lines that breathe.
Amid the technological sophistication of the contemporary art world, Elson walks the opposite
path. He chooses the simplest tool—a ballpoint pen—and pulls from it the maximum
expression. The delicacy of his technique contrasts with the weight of the stories it tells. With
overlapping, interwoven, and stubbornly precise lines, he creates images of striking visual
impact and poetic depth. Each line is a memory; each shadow, a story refusing to be erased.
“If my pen could write one word about the Amazon,” Elson says, “it would be Breath.” And that’s
exactly what his work offers: a breath against indifference, a gasp of awareness in times of
deforestation, invasion, and exploitation. His drawings don’t depict the forest as scenery—but
as a living character: complex, pulsing, and alive. The deep green of the canopy, the mirrored
blue of the rivers, the earthy red of roots, and the vibrant colors of Indigenous body paint form,
in his imagination, an ancestral mosaic.
His decision to center Indigenous people in his work is no coincidence. For Elson, the most
urgent story to tell—often the most silenced—is that of those who fight for their land. In
drawing them, he doesn’t mythologize them. He places them where they’ve always belonged:
at the center. The center of the struggle, the forest, the culture, and life itself. In doing so, his art
becomes a political act—restoring dignity to those long pushed to the margins.
Drawing to Protect
Elson Junior
If each of his works is a visual narrative, the message Elson leaves for future
generations is crystal clear: “The Amazon is not an inheritance to be spent, but a
responsibility to be passed on.” And perhaps it’s this very awareness that makes his
art an act of healing. “Art can’t heal nature alone,” he says, “but it can open cracks in
the way we see. It teaches us to view the forest as a relative—not a resource.”
With his ballpoint pen as an extension of his soul, Elson Júnior draws what can no
longer be ignored. His works are emotional maps—guiding us through memory,
feeling, and resistance. And they invite us to a practice more necessary than ever: to
relearn how to see—and how to care.
Instagram: @elsonjuniorr
Epiphany in the Forest
Epiphany in the Forest
Epiphany in the Forest
Adriana Soares
Adriana Soares
Adriana Soares
With singular sensitivity, Adriana Soares weaves a refined poetic vision into her work, where
the ancestral silence of the Amazon rainforest engages in quiet dialogue with the memories of
the Old World. Through the lightness of watercolor and the symbolic density of her
compositions, the artist translates the subtle complexity of existence into color and form.
In this special Amazon edition of ArtNow Report, Adriana dives into a deeply emotional and
symbolic landscape. Inspired by the photographs of Sebastião Salgado, she turns her eyes —
and her heart — to Indigenous women, not just as inhabitants of the forest, but as the very
roots of Brazilian history. What struck her most in Salgado’s work wasn’t the pain, but the
beauty — a beauty “human, tied to resilience, dignity, and a deep connection to the land.” It’s
this untamed force that drives her process, a gesture of profound reconnection. “Diving into
this universe was also a dive into my own memories,” she confesses. Her sensitivity was
shaped by “Tina,” her affectionate name for Maria Florentina, an Indigenous woman who was
the backbone of her family in Mato Grosso. The gazes she paints are not of “the other,” but
echoes of dignity and the silent teachings that helped form her identity.
In her Amazon-inspired works, Adriana doesn’t just portray — she listens. She listens to the
sound of leaves, deciphers the gaze of silenced women, evokes the memory of birds rescued
from devastation. Birds that, as a child, lived with her at home — toucans, macaws, small lives
taken from the forest and embraced as family. These are not just visual elements: they’re
living symbols of a childhood suspended between the concrete of the city and the sublime
chaos of nature. In her work, art and nature coexist — like breath and poetry.
Known for her precision — perhaps an echo of her background in
dentistry — Adriana doesn’t impose order on nature; she respects it.
If Versailles, with its meticulously planned gardens, inspired her
series European Flowers, the forest taught her that there’s a more
powerful beauty in the spontaneity of the natural world. “Versailles
inspires me with its discipline and rigor, but the Amazon rainforest
inspires me with its freedom and life force,” she reflects. Her
sensitive, poetic art proves with every brushstroke that “art can
dwell both in perfect symmetry and in the lyrical, one-of-a-kind
asymmetry of the wild.”
In her work, the Amazon is not some distant concept — it’s an
emotional territory. It is land, memory, reverence, and perhaps, a
quiet warning. Adriana Soares transforms inner landscapes into
visual ones. As she revisits Salgado and pays tribute to Indigenous
femininity, she also revisits her own story, her origin, her mission.
Between metallic hues and subtle transparencies, between Marie
Antoinette and Maria Florentina, between French gardens and
tropical forests, she builds a delicate bridge between seemingly
opposing worlds.
And so, her art doesn’t simply occupy space. Like the Amazon itself,
it transforms it.
Instagram: @atelieadrianasoares_
The Jaguar Leads the Way
The Jaguar Leads the Way
The Jaguar Leads the Way
Amanda Medeiros
Amanda Medeiros
Amanda Medeiros
She stands with her back to us. Silent. As if she’s just crossed
through the forest and, before disappearing for good, paused
for a moment to feel the world behind her. Amanda
Medeiros’s jaguar doesn’t need to face us to pierce through
us. Her presence fills the canvas like a whisper of power—a
quiet, breathing warning. She doesn’t roar; she resonates.
Our cover is a painting that watches without eyes, speaks
without words, and demands care even as it commands
respect. And Amanda Medeiros—known for her masterful,
visceral portraits of human faces—now finds a new territory
of expression in the animal kingdom.
The artist confesses that the most unforgettable moment in
creating this piece was immersing herself in the details of the
fur: “Each glint of light, each dark spot over golden tones—it
all made me feel one with the figure.” And that’s exactly what
her painting delivers: an intimate fusion between artist and
animal, as if, through the jaguar, Amanda discovered a new
way of speaking about herself—and about Brazil.
In the image of the jaguar, she saw more than a national
icon. She saw strength wrapped in vulnerability, the symbol of
a forest under threat yet still towering. She saw the tension
between beauty and danger, between sovereignty and
fragility. She saw a reflection of the Amazon itself—and
perhaps, of our entire identity.
THIS JAGUAR,
SEEN FROM
BEHIND, DOES
NOT IGNORE
US.
SHE ENTRUSTS
US WITH HER
SILENCE.
There’s a controlled tension in this piece. The dark background
surrounding the jaguar seems to amplify her silence. The absence of a
forward gaze defies the viewer’s expectation for eye contact. This jaguar
isn’t posing. She’s not performing. She’s moving forward. And in that
simple gesture, Amanda opens a new chapter in her career: art as a path,
not a display.