Paulo Nazareth is a performance artist from Brazil and although I normally associate men from Brazil either playing a mean game of soccer or trying to out dance me in a samba, Nazareth is a Latin American artist who has gotten quite a bit of exposure in the past year or so and I am really intrigued by what he is trying to do.

His latest work “News from the Americas” opened at the Mendes Wood Gallery in Sao Paulo this month but the work was 15 countries by foot and bus in the making. Nazareth travelled between Brazil and the United States collecting a variety of experiences/art/stories ranging from wearing a sign that says “I will clean your bathroom for a good price” in order to gauge reactions from people to selling signed bananas for $10/each at Art Basel Miami Beach. His goal? To interact with people throughout the Americas, question our attitudes about economics, race, and ethnicity (he offered money to people who could guess his ethnicity correctly) and develop a oeuvre of work that gives us an idea of what is happening now. A snapshot that is more tangible and temporally significant than social media or even a newspaper.

Here are some clips of his work:

This is not from “News for the Americas’ but I think this shows you what he is trying to do

Banana Sale at Art Basel Miami Beach

Promo Shots from Mandes Wood Gallery