Stephan Doitschinoff’s is Calma, a Brazilian painter. Growing up as a son of a minister, he paints faith and the profane in a quest to paint a city with visual vocabulary of religious art. The work speaks for itself, his process and journey speaks from a part of the world that doesn’t have the voice me and you are used to.
His works comprise of spiritual paintings and murals emblazoned on houses, churches, tombstones and walls in rural villages in his South America. His metaphoric imagery feeds off Afro-Brazilian folklore, pagan and alchemic symbolism and contemporary pop culture. His imagery in one particular chapel doesn’t exploit or hurt the sensibility of faith in the community.
The artist says, “I personally see the church as an archaic institution that always aimed to control the masses. I think it is an appropriate symbol for corrupt modern institutions like big corporations, media channels, and governments.”