Yoyo Ferro

November 13, 2018:  Yoyo Ferro was born in Piracicaba in the state of São Paulo, Brazil but now makes his home in Atlanta. His first venture into the arts was through music playing bass in a Brazilian punk rock band (which was a rare thing in country Brazil). That sense of nonconformity can be seen in his murals even today. His whimsical abstract art features bright primary colors bounded by a single continuous looping black line. You can find Yoyo Ferro’s public art in murals, and on building façades all over the Atlanta map.

One of the techniques that Yoyo Ferro has embraced is blind contour drawing where the artist draws without looking at the paper and without lifting the pencil from the paper (hence the continuous looping black line). Blind contour drawing encourages the hand and the eyes to work as a team and it promotes right brain thinking over left brain thinking. But Yoyo Ferro takes it to the next level by asking each blind contour portrait subject to tell a personal story while Yoyo draws. Blind contour drawing influences his non-blind street art and canvas art as he said in a 2016 interview with CommonCreativ ATL: “I try to loosen up my hand as much as I can and not look at the paper too much, as I’m not usually trying to achieve anything too perfect. It has to be a little weird and imperfect to feel right.”

Yoyo Ferro was a participant in lawsuit that prevented the city of Atlanta from imposing undue regulations on artwork on private property. As a result of his efforts he was a recipient of a 2017 ArtsAtl Luminary Award. Yoyo Ferro has been a featured mural artist for the Outerspace Project, Living Walls and the Forward Warrior Project.

Link to Yoyo Ferro’s Website: http://www.yoyoferro.com

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