Bel Borba Aqui

'The People's Picasso.' For the past 35 years, Bel Borba has been transforming his hometown of Salvador, Brazil with an amazing array of works of public art. Using paint, sand, tiles, clay, metal, wood, and just about anything else he comes across, Bel Borba makes art that is a natural extension of his exuberant personality. He remakes an abandoned building by using its steel beams to fashion a façade of faces. An airplane makes a terrific surface on which to paint a plane-sized fish. Coke bottles are fashioned into a huge dog, and unadorned surfaces are canvases crying out for transformation. Set to the rhythms of Brazil, "Bel Borba Aqui" introduces a one-man life-force who proves that his country is a lot more than favelas, soccer, and drugs.