About the Artist
João de Brito
How to pronounce the Portuguese name João?
zhuh-WOU jou-wow Gi-oh-aun
ZJ-Hah-OW Zuh-wah-U Ju-ao J-ew-ow
Biography of a exonome
João de Brito (1958-) born in Portugal
João de Brito was born in Portugal, he lived in New England and currently lives in Northern California, he has travelled extensively throughout California, the U.S., Canada, Central America, Asia, Pacific Islands and Europe to paint in oils en plein aire. From early age, he has observed and study art and life, he has passion for expressing himself using impressionist/figurative views on canvas.
Though de Brito sculpts and works in ceramic, he favors painting and incorporates his Portuguese roots along with influences of great French fauvists and California impressionists. In 2005, de Brito traveled from city to city to paint with Mauri artists and exhibit at Pyromania Gallery in Tauranga Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and he has been a guest of the Portuguese government who engaged de Brito to paint images of the country for their cultural collection and art publication.
In the past, de Brito toured California and Europe with artist Mark Geller to paint coastal and inland scenes. He has completed a Master’s Class with David Leffel and took several art courses at Cabrillo College. In addition, de Brito spent three years as an understudy to California’s William B. Hannum, a highly regarded best-selling artist of Carmel’s Artist Association and continues to learn from his Good Friends Mel Ramos a great Pop Figure Artist and the late Master Painter and Print Maker Nathan Oliveira who was part of the original Bay Area Figurative artist movement of California.
De Brito has become well-known for his use of vibrant colors that elicit light, life, energy and interpretive landscapes. Having unleashed a fresh creativity – inspired by memories of his homeland, scenes from the East and West Coast, and his many travels abroad – de Brito’s oils stimulate the sense of sight to produce emotion and thought. As a result, de Brito’s works appear in galleries, museums, businesses, government agencies and affluent homes around the world.
Currently, de Brito’s works can be found at Monique Arnon Fine Art, San Francisco - California , Kate Nolan Gallery, Santa Cruz, California, Thanassi Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts, The Foundry Gallery in Berkeley, California, Woodside Gallery, Woodside California and at Hauk Fine Arts, Pacific Grove, California.
Along the way, he has been the featured artist, involved in many group exhibits and several one-man shows. De Brito is also a member of the Santa Cruz Art League, Provincetown Art Association and The Beachcombers Club, a private arts and letters association based in Provincetown, MA.
De Brito was born in a small town on the Island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, Portugal and as a young man immigrated with his family to the East Coast of the United States. In 1978, the artist settled in California’s Monterey Peninsula where he shares his talents with the local community as well as international art enthusiasts. Though he admits to often ‘swimming against the current,’ his painting philosophy is to awaken hope, invoke a sense of well-being and share colors of life and to speak to the heart.
Steve Hauk quoting Nathan Oliveira about his friend Joao de Brito
``Do you see that man? After my wife Mona died, I stopped painting. That man kept knocking on my door and said, `You must not stop. You must paint again.'
``I was very angry with him for a time and I wanted him to go away. But you see, I am back, painting again, and so he was right. He has become my very good friend.'' - Nathan Oliveira
“That man was Joao de Brito, also a Portuguese-American artist.”
http://redroom.com/member/steve-hauk/blog/nathan-oliveira-1928-2010
Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_de_Brito
Click here to contact João de Brito by e-mail
Click here to contact João de Brito by e-mail