By painting sounds, PV Dias imagines new futures based on the urban music scene of the Amazon
Photography, video, digital art, augmented reality. Saturated and vibrant colors, pop aesthetics, references to Afrofuturism Cultural, aesthetic and political movement that manifests itself in various fields of the arts from a Black perspective. It uses science fiction and fantasy to create narratives of Black protagonism, celebrating their identity, ancestry and history. and the Caribbean and South American Amazons. These are central elements in the art of Paulo Victor Dias, PV Dias, an artist who will inspire our digital channels as of September
PV Dias brings the sound, visual and political pulse of the urban Amazon into his art. Inspired by the vibrant cultural scene of the outskirts of the city, his paintings visually convey the rhythms of tecnobrega—electronic beats that blend synthesizers with elements of regional Amazonian music.
Calypso, carimbó, forró, and zouk are portrayed in his work linked with a pop aesthetic and the Afrofuturist movement, in visual narratives that stem from a careful listening to the regional past and present.
Its strong connection with the effervescent nightlife scene inspires paintings that explore not only the rhythms, but the universe of the creative economy surrounding large-scale sound system parties: transportation and assembly of structures, decor, lighting, street vendors, and the exhaustion at the end of the events. Thus, the microcosm of Amazonian sound systems represents the appreciation of the aesthetics of celebrations and the Amazonian urban way of life beyond clichés.
PV Dias’ artistic Amazon is little known to the rest of Brazil
PV considers the Amazon he grew up in his fundamental visual reference. He is from Belém and was raised between the capital city and Ananindeua, but he always visited inland Pará, where his family lives. His experience living in Rio de Janeiro changed the way he understood the region. “Living outside Pará sharpened my perception. Things that I previously considered normal, like the soundscape of Belém, now seem unique to me,” he says.
Contact with stereotypical views of his homeland prompted his desire to rewrite narratives, addressing the rhythms and colors of the outskirts. His works often associate the urban landscape with the economic dimension of behind the scenes of events, highlighting their social and cultural impact.
Its strong connection with the effervescent nightlife scene inspires paintings that explore not only the rhythms, but the universe of the creative economy surrounding large-scale sound system parties: transportation and assembly of structures, decor, lighting, street vendors, and the exhaustion at the end of the events. Fascinated by the visual impact of these events, PV seeks to show a different Amazon, which promotes gigantic celebrations every weekend, but is little known in the rest of Brazil.
The cultural pulse that drives the Amazonian creative economy
Sound systems democratize culture and leisure, but they also have a strong economic impact. They employ truck drivers, loaders, audio and lighting engineers, visual artists, DJs and street vendors. These production chains support thousands of people who breathe music, become professionals, and their financial activity represent an important source of income.
Alongside other artists, PV highlights the role of local collectives in strengthening the Amazonian creative economy, which is becoming more and more independent of major sponsors. “There is a cultural pulse inland,” he reports.“Cametá Town in the state of Pará, for instance, is bustling. What strengthens the scene is not the artist alone, but the collective, the small circuits, the support systems.” Thus, by combining documents, imaginary characters, and pop elements, he creates what he calls “visual performance plots” to narrate a living, dynamic territory.
The Amazon connected to the world
The free flow of tecnobrega aesthetics is the theme of painting “Quinze anos na aparelhagem/Quinceañera en Sound System” [Fifteen years in sound system] (2023). The work represents the cultural convergence between the Brazilian Amazon and other countries in the region, sometimes stronger than the territory’s identification with other parts of the country, one of the aspects of daily life of which PV is mindful.
This connection is also made clear by the presence of animals that are part of the decor and visual imagery of the sound system parties in Pará. An example is work “O Búfalo: A fauna futurista das aparelhagens” [The Buffalo: The futuristic fauna of the sound systems], which is part of a trilogy of large-scale paintings that also includes the crocodile and the eagle.
These figures, present at sound system parties, cross colonial borders and connect the Amazon to Caribbean and South American territories. According to PV, their inclusion in the parties’ decor symbolizes how popular culture transcends geographical boundaries, leading sound, image and visual references beyond established borders.
In work “Luzes da noite FM” [Night lights FM} (2023), the artist portrays nightlife DJs in dialogue with the culture of the Colombian picós “picós” refers to the powerful sound systems that are an essential part of picotera culture, especially in cities like Cartagena and Barranquilla. These sound systems, decorated with colorful and cheerful designs, are used at parties and events to amplify the music, especially styles like champeta and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms. highlighting the international transit of sound system that unites Jamaica, Maranhão and Colombia.
An artist who projects the future with an Amazonian accent
Afrofuturism, in its “anarchic and Amazonian” version, is also an essential element in PV Dias’ art. Its strong connection with the effervescent nightlife scene inspires paintings that explore not only the rhythms, but the universe of the creative economy surrounding large-scale sound system parties: transportation and assembly of structures, decor, lighting, street vendors, and the exhaustion at the end of the events.
It is in the projection of this future that not only his Black and urban roots converge, but also the rhythms, colors, scenes, technologies, traditions and stories that show a powerful and creative Amazon. “I am telling my story, which can be made up, just as other stories have been. (…) A future in which architectural, collaborative, visual and musical dynamics also come from an Amazonian perspective,” he explains.
And when art arises from the North, with its sparkle, beats and bodies in motion, it not only imagines new worlds, it opens up possibilities.
An Amazon at the forefront of modernity
PV Dias’ art immortalizes an electronic and digital Amazon. The inspiration from tecnobrega sound systems challenges the stereotypical notion of an isolated, pre-modern Amazon. His work proves that the North is a creative power and innovation hub—a territory capable of influencing global aesthetics with colors, rhythms, and references to Black urbanity.