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Romero Britto
Considered the heir apparent of neo-pop cubism, Britto uses vibrant and bold, sub-tropical colors, separated and accentuated by thick black lines. Britto sees art as a vehicle for carrying messages of joy and the celebration of life. He donates much of his time and work to charitable causes, such as Amnesty International, the Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, Aids research, and the maintenance of the Brazilian rainforest. He designed the cover for Michael Jackson's CD benefiting the victims of the World Trade Center, "What More Can I Give," and his image "The Gift of Life", promoting the importance of organ donation, appeared on 4000 buses around the world.
Britto is a Brazilian-born artist whose simple drawings of children, butterflies and flowers have decorated everything from commercial Absolut Vodka ads to a 45-foot-high pyramid in London.
And Miami developers are some of his biggest fans. You can find Britto's work at shopping malls throughout Miami. Recently, three more of his pieces were unveiled at a shopping center downtown — a heart, a butterfly and an 11-foot dancing boy.
"Romero has managed to create contemporary masterpieces that invoke a spirit of hope," developer John Kokinchak said at the ceremony.
The bold outlines, bright colors and simple images of Britto's art appeal to children, public officials and art collectors alike. Britto says there's a reason his work is so popular: It makes people happy.
"Some people in the arts, they really still believe that art is really only important if you talk about something that's disgusting or horrible or depressing," he says. "I think happiness is not a shallow feeling. It's a very deep feeling."
Being a purveyor of happiness has paid off for Britto. The popularity of his work has made Britto an international celebrity and the head of a multimillion dollar company.
The artist — who's in his mid-40s — employs about 70 people, many at his sprawling workshop in Miami's Wynnewood art district. Some are building and painting frames for his prints, others are working on crating and shipping his art to customers around the world.
And down a hallway, behind glass doors is his studio, where he says he tries to keep the focus on creativity.
It's an art business empire that stretches from Brazil, where some of his sculptures and other work is fabricated, to galleries in New York, London and Geneva. Looking around the workshop, you can find Britto's art on paintings, prints, sculptures, shoes, bicycle shirts and shopping bags. There's even Britto cologne.
Whether it's crass commercialism or art brought to the people, it's all happened in just two decades.
Britto arrived in Miami in 1987. Two years later, his career took off when he was asked to design a commemorative label for Absolut Vodka — following in the footsteps of pop artists Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.
On the walls of his workshop and in his South Beach gallery is the evidence of the doors that have opened since — testimony from Ted Kennedy, Jeb Bush and Gloria Estefan, photos of Britto with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chelsea Clinton.
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