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Vinícius Ribeiro was born in São Luiz Gonzaga, in 1968, and as a child he loved drawing and inventing things. “I used to get comic books and copy the drawings. With this I learned the proportion of things, as I never studied art. I had many jobs, but didn’t enjoy them. What I really enjoy is what I do now.” In 1991 he was given the image of a gaucho as a souvenir. “I looked at it and thought I could do better. And I guess I do, because a year later I was making a living of it.” Today, Vinícius teaches at an Art Centre run by the local government, and his work is exhibited all over town. His life-size reproductions of historical characters are very popular. “I’ve made many sculptures of the poet Jaime Caetano Braun, and of the musicians Cenair Maicá and Noel Guarany. They are considered very important for having started a style of music representative of the Jesuit Missions culture. Another piece of which I’m proud is the statue of Luís Carlos Prestes, now in the Archeology Museum.” Vinícius sculpts in sandstone and is working on a 3 metre high statue of Sepé Tiaraju, a native heroe, to be placed in the Missions with other local heroes. |
