tevo
The Passerby
Tevo is a 24-year-old Brazilian artist who works primarily with pixel art. His first contact with art, besides scribbling on the pages of his notebooks since he can remember, was around 12 years old when he had his first real contact with literature. He fell in love right away. One of his greatest pleasures for a few years was being able to isolate himself from reality by reading literary stories. From then on, even while he became very involved with exact sciences academically, everything pulled him towards his artistic side. He has already photographed, produced music, and done audio/visual work for independent artists. He had always maintained a more intimate habit of developing characters (one of his greatest passions) until he entered web3 and had the opportunity to share it with more people.
1. What did you originally want to do with your study of exact sciences?
I started studying Chemistry when I finished high school. It was more because of my parents than of my own will. There was a very competitive entrance exam and I managed to get in, but my desire for a career or anything related to Chemistry was never my own. So much so that I ended up leaving at the beginning of my third year. Although I have a history of doing well in exact sciences, it was never something that made me really happy.
2. Have you found that anything from your Chemistry background has influenced your artistic style at all?
Maybe unconsciously. I think that what most influenced me artistically during this period were the art schools that were also part of the university campus. I used to visit them frequently and I made some friends there at the time. I enjoyed visiting the performing arts and visual arts events they promoted, and there were plenty at the time. Here in Brazil, the best universities are public and their entry through exams is highly disputed. Each state has one and the one where I studied is called UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais)
3. How come you decided to leave university instead of switching to studying art?
I never formally studied art. While deciding to leave college, I was already doing some audiovisual work I mentioned earlier. This gave me the opportunity to evolve my experience. Also being very curious and willing to create things when I was younger allowed me to learn as well.
4. What's an example of something you created that you're really proud of?
I guess I don't have as much attachment to my past works, not as much as I believe I should. What most enchants me as a creator is the evolutionary process that you can clearly see in the creative environment. So I think that if I had to choose one of my past works I would choose some photographs that I used to take of my family in places we traveled. I really liked writing some sonnets and poems over them, along with some doodles.
5. You currently have your Unknown #003 piece up for auction as we're doing this interview. Tell me about that piece and the "Lyrical Selfs" series it's a part of.
Passersby is a narrative that has the proposal to be endless. The "Lyrical Selfs" are the characters that are added weekly and interact with each other by generating narrative spaces to the "Passersby Spaces". "Unknown #003" is one of the 3 mysterious beings that were cited by the first of them as one of his only memories after being found by Kai (the fourth Lyrical Self) in a capsule during one of his dimensional travels. He lives at the top of a tower and from what we know so far, he appears to be almost dead.
6. Do you have a fully planned out universe/world for these characters in this series?
Yes, there is a general concept that I tell in the narrative little by little weekly, and will also have some of the "Lyrical Selfs" influence in future interactions. I think that the intriguing and mysterious sides are fundamental parts because they open up imaginative spaces for the interlocutors.
Follow tevo as the journey of his "Lyrical Selfs" continues!
