Favela Painting Fundraiser Auction

Jeroen Koolhaas, co-founder of Favela Painting and artist behind the world famous mural projects in Rio’s favelas, donates 20 original paintings and drawings to raise money for finishing a community art project 14 years in the making. Jeroen Koolhaas, co-founder of Favela Painting and artist behind the world famous mural projects in Rio’s favelas, donates 20 original paintings and drawings to raise money for finishing a community art project 14 years in the making. A larger than life mosaic situated in Vila Cruzeiro, one of Rio’s most notorious favelas. The centerpiece of the auction is a four panel mosaic produced by the Favela Mosaico crew in Rio and previously exhibited in Kunsthal Rotterdam. Jeroen Koolhaas founded Favela Painting together with Dre Urhahn in 2005 and spent years living and working in Rio de Janeiro. What started with a documentary about hip-hop in favelas led to large scale community driven mural projects which were covered by international media such as CNN, New York Times and the Guardian. A TED talk by Koolhaas and Urhahn has been viewed over 2 million times. The informal, organic character of favela life and architecture became a primary source of inspiration for Koolhaas. Over the years Koolhaas produced paintings, studies, portraits and sketches around the subject. The large scale mural projects come to life in collaboration with the locals who live in the houses and those employed by the project. Once finished the mosaic will cover more than 500 square meters of a street in the middle of ViLa Cruzeiro. Designed by Rob Admiraal, famous tattoo artist from Amsterdam, the image of koi swimming upstream a river was originally painted over the course of 8 months between 2007 and 2008, a particularly violent period where the favela was continuously subject to shootouts between the armed drug faction and the police. By the time the painting was finished the favela was invaded by the brazilian army. By 2017 the painting had faded and a team of locals started work on reconstructing the original in mosaics which has a much longer lifespan than paint. A team women received training for several months and is now working autonomously. Houses around the mosaic are being improved with plaster and ceramic tiles. The estimated value for the lots are set to conform current market value for works by Jeroen Koolhaas. Minimum bids for this fundraiser auction are set at 60% of market value. 85% of proceeds from the auction will be donated directly to the Favela Mosaico project, providing salaries and materials to the crew in Rio. The remaining 15% cover production costs for the auction. Visit favelapainting.com to learn more about Favela Mosaico and jeroenkoolhaas.com for a timeline of the artist’s career.