José Bezerra
José Bezerra was born in the city of Buíque, in the interior of Pernambuco, in 1952. He became a craftsman from 2002, carving fallen tree trunks, turning his trunks and roots into works of art. In his works we find human figures, ox cars, animals and other elements that are part of the sertanejo universe. Zé Bezerra watches forks and knots of wood and uses them as suggestions for the images he sculpts.
His technique gives his sculptures an unusual intensity. José Bezerra generally works with twisted logs, typical of the vegetation of the place. This irregular aspect, together with the few butchers that conform them, produces a remarkable result. The oscillating definition of figures joins the tortuosity of wood, and this relation makes us perceive forms that seem to struggle to emerge, amid the clash between vegetal matter and sculptural intervention rude and parsimonious. From this comes the singular expressiveness of his works. Their animals, bodies and faces do not have the sweetness of much of the so-called folk art, made of affection and familiarity with materials.