The Quest for a Limpo

We first noticed one in Cafe Alquimia where we had a drink before Bale Folclorico and then we saw one in our hostel and then we saw more all around the city. Floating, dreamy characters carrying the world in a bucket or a paintbrush or flowers. Many walls in Salvador carry the mark of the graffiti artist known as Limpo and we were quite taken with his work.

We decided to try and see if we could get a piece. We trudged around a number of galleries asking if anyone knew about an available Limpo which was small enough for us to carry. It seemed no one had any, since he's on the rise in the art market and lives in Europe. But we asked and asked till we found one gallery which had a small enough piece and for a small enough price. After much mulling and about 2 hours before we left Salvador we decided that we wanted it! But alas, the owner was (slightly) clueless about how we could take it with us and did not possess a box or case in which to carry it. She initially offered to roll up the painting (oil on canvas!) and send it with us, but we insisted on a hard shell case to carry it and in the course of trying to find one we fortunately we spoke to another gallery owner who immediately said NO - that rolling it would damage the painting. Unfortunately then, with only a couple of hours left there was no way we could get a box and in any case it would be a headache to lug it around with us for a month in Argentina.

But we do have the gallery's email address and may still get it shipped. So if you visit us, you might get to see a Limpo in India!