JOSIE MENGAI

Brazilian, born in 1950

Josie Mengai's luminous watercolors combine brilliant pigments with a sharpness of line and level of detail that are not often seen in this medium. Inspired by nature and her travels, Mengai paints scenes of flora, fauna, animals and the beach, focusing especially on reflections of water and skillfully capturing the spirit of places she saw firsthand. One of these places is the Amazon Forest, which is dear to the heart of Mengai, having lived there for a while. In addition to landscapes, some of Mengai's most striking pieces include images of tigers, which Mengai favors because he was born in the Year of the Chinese Tiger. Although it is almost photorealistic in its representation, what really sets Mengai's pieces apart is the symphony of color and the masterful understanding of light that give her paintings, even in reproduction, something close to the appearance of the stained glass.

Mengai was born in Hong Kong, but grew up and currently lives in Brazil, where his work has won numerous awards, including a silver medal at the IX Salon of Fine Arts in 2005, in Serra Negra, São Paulo.