Strange Original Reed

Strange Original ReedChico da Silva by Babá · 2005 · Acrylic on canvas
A large open-mouthed fish swallowing smaller fish, with long-beaked birds diving above on a yellow ground. Strange Original Reed, Chico da Silva by Babá, 2005, acrylic on canvas.
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Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A horizontal painting centered on a large fish or sea creature whose orange and blue body curves across the middle, its wide toothed mouth open at the left to engulf a stream of small colorful fish. The body is patterned with rows of round shell-like motifs in pastel colors and a spiral marks its head. A long orange tail with a flower-tipped plume sweeps up to the upper right. Across the top, a row of long-beaked birds with red, blue and orange wings dive toward the fish against a deep yellow sky. The lower half is a pale blue and white water field scattered with small red, green and yellow fish swimming toward the lower left. A signature in dark letters appears at the lower right.

Artist
Chico da Silva by Babá
Year
2005
Technique
Acrylic on canvas
Support
Canvas
Dimensions
74 x 110 cm
Collection
João Cunha Collection
Signature
CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ, lower right
Photo
Eric Keki
Inventory no.
JCC-058
Article
The Pirambu School

The signature

Detail of the painted signature: «CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ»
The canvas is signed “CHICO DA SILVA / POR BABÁ”, in the lower right corner.

Provenance

  1. The artist, Fortaleza, 2005
  2. Instituto Cultural Oboé, Fortaleza
  3. Leilão Montenegro, auction, 2025
  4. João Cunha Collection

How to credit

Photographs free to reuse, with credit (CC BY 4.0)

Chico da Silva by Babá, “Strange Original Reed” (2005). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-058

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

For IIIF viewers