Painting was not the first choice of Werllayne Nunes, but it has always been a true love. After graduating medical school in 2003, Nunes decided to become a full-time artist. His current exhibition, Palace of Power, at Mehari Sequar Gallery shows that he made the right decision.

Nunes is the epitome of a brilliant artist. Just scattered enough, it seems like it can start painting at any moment. His hair was gray and stood on his head. His demeanor is quiet and shy. And his speech - Portuguese is his first language - is unchanging. Growing up in Brazil, Nunes didn't think he was an artist and wasn't exposed to art. But her father, a sign painter who made great signs for Mother's Day or for Christmas, bought her her first oil painting. Using these materials, Nunes declares, he paints like a child - houses, trees, birds. He did not know that being an artist was possible. "I didn't know I could be in a museum or a gallery," he says. “I knew I wanted to draw and paint, but there was no one to teach me. They did not teach like that in Brazil at that time.

As a young man, he decided to go to medical school because he knew that his parents wanted a better life for him, and as the eldest of three children, he would set an example. He went to school in Spain, where he visited a museum for the first time. He was twenty-three years old.

When he saw this art, he realized, "That's what I want to do." But he was reluctant to tell his mother, he said. "I don't want to steal her dream. My dream isn't just about me...it's also about my mother. It affects everyone around me. My family. So, the dream that affects me, affects everyone.












Soon after he realized that he wanted to paint, he went to see his mother and got her blessing. He left medicine to create full-time art. He recalls: “People said you can do both, but if you want to be good, you have to choose. Painting is not a hobby. No, it's bad.

Nunes paints every day. "If I don't paint, I get very angry, my smile changes and I start to think that I will be the worst artist." Although the description of his work may seem otherwise, because he paints with such passion, Nunes is completely self-taught. Palace of Power, the title of his current exhibition at the Northeast DC gallery, inspires the idea that even places considered small by some can be palaces for others. In the center of the gallery space is a wrought iron structure, mimicking the buildings in the favelas of Brazil. Above hung a chandelier. "When I was a kid, I heard this guy say that living in a favela is like living in a mansion, and I've never forgotten that," Nunes says.
He believes in visual magic really - the idea that the magic in it sitters can translate into their drawings. Nunes takes pictures of black children and places them on canvases with beautiful and geometric backdrops to suggest that the magic comes out of each of them instead of capturing their environment, which is not usually the most secure or efficient. When he takes pictures of his subjects, he gets to know them and what they like.
"I have to put these kids in the best possible environment," Nunes says. "They should be in the best expectations ever." He paints children because they remind him of his childhood, full of play and imagination. But it's also about understanding the importance of developing strengths to help children build self-confidence. In one of his most prominent works, "Céleste", he said that he loved his country. It's not what Nunes expected from the older man. He decided to put his image in front of the favelas, although he is not a citizen. In this intricate painting, Celeste's arms trace vertical lines across the canvas that create a landscape. The favelas are depicted as if the water created a similar mirror image. Every little thing in the favela is shown below the vertical line. In another work, "Us", he repeats the type of image that is suspected to be professional.






The way he interprets his beautiful subject shows that it is love. Every hair style in his drawing is detailed and careful. A mirror reproduces a picture. And the detail, down to the dirt on the subject's knees, tricks the eye into thinking that the subject is real instead of an image painted in oil. To truly experience Nunes, his paintings must be seen in person - photographs do not do them justice. Seeing the quality of paintings on canvas helps to understand that these are not photographs. These are amazing paintings created by human hands