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When he starts to talk about his life, Sebastião Matias Cordeiro (alias Sebastião Ferreira) is bitter. It’s due to unfairness and the lack of understanding he’s found along the way. Born in Itaporanga (PB), in 1950, he’s been through hard times. “Since I was 11 years old people have said I was crazy. My father was in the airforce and all my brothers got an education but I didn’t go to school. I learned how to read so I could write my name. And then I started toying with wood, making little cars. Nowadays I don’t make cars anymore, I make art. I started making ex-votos and I realized that along with the other things I made people started calling them sculptures. I have pieces in Spain and Italy. Some people only like the angels and saints that look Italian. All in all, I’ve been here under this tree in front of the Tambaú Hotel for the last 25 years.”
Having lost a leg due to diabetes and high blood pressure Sebastião gets emotional when he talks about himself. He cries, saying his heart feels soft but it’s really more open and free.
“From what I’ve heard, I make surrealist and abstract art. Surrealism is when we make art without needing to know what we’re making. People must be able to decipher some thing in their lives. I don’t even know why art needs a label. It’s a secret nobody really knows. It has to move us, and make us cry.” |
