Page 476 - The Secret Museum

chewed-up match as a brush for small details, and for his signature – which is

wonderful: a curly ‘O’ and jagged ‘S’, both underlined.

His co-workers thought he was going a little mad, as he painted compulsively, on
any materials left hanging around the office. The same happened at home. His wife
was fed up with fingerprints in paint all over the house and thought her husband had
lost the plot. He told her he knew what he was doing, and suggested she take up
painting too. Years later, she also became a naïf artist.

From the moment he began, Ricardo wanted to become a painter: ‘As I didn’t
know how to paint, I worked on many pictures at the same time, trying not to forget
all ideas that came to mind. Now that I know better, I can take it slower …’

Luckily, an engineer who worked with Ricardo recognized great talent emerging
in his paintings of his childhood in Minas Gerais, featuring coffee plantations,

cowboys, parties and mountains. She spread the word of her frenziedly creative co-
worker, and Ozias was able to mount his first exhibition in 1987. All 52 paintings
were created with his fingers. He later got enthusiastic about religion and became a
priest, built a temple near his house and set up an art school, in which he taught
children in his community to paint.

Since I visited, the museum has reopened. I would love to have the chance to go
back and see it one day. If you get to Rio first, and decide to queue to take the train up
to the Christ the Redeemer statue, why not slip away and see what paintings by Ozias

are on display? Several are dedicated to Brazil’s love of football and to the fate of
the national team.

Remember, though, that behind the scenes are more of his paintings, as yet unseen,
waiting, just like their creator, for their time to come.