In the last 16 years, Romero Britto’s reputation as one of the most famous Pop artists of his generation has been firmly established. Today he is collected by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jordan, Dustin Hoffman, Gloria Estefan, Andre Agassi, Eileen Guggenheim, David Rockefeller and dozens of other society, political and entertainment figures. Britto has been a fixture on the international art scene since 1989 when he was commissioned by Absolut Vodka along with Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and the estate of Andy Warhol, to design a bottle label for a company advertising campaign,

Following on the heels of Absolut, Britto's whimsical, neo-Pop pieces are consistently commissioned by major corporations that ask him to design and paint large-scale murals, sculptures and product logos around the world. Recent corporate requests: Disney, Evian, Pepsi-Cola, Volvo, Royal Caribbean, Unilever and BMW. He was also invited to paint eight cows for the famous public art exhibit, CowParade, New York.

Art wasn’t always in Britto’s future. It was during his third year of law school, after also serving in the Brazilian army, that Romero Britto realized that practicing law was probably not going to make him happy. From the small, fishing village of Recife, Brazil, he was the eighth of nine children. Although he was an avid painter as a young man, his passion for art was considered a hobby at most, not a serious vocation.

But Britto knew better. Putting the money together, he took off for Europe to discover himself and work on his art. He spent a year traveling through France, England, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain. He eventually found his way to Miami where he sold his art on the streets of Coconut Grove until being represented by the highly respected gallery owner, Berenice Steiner.

Romero soon opened his own gallery space in Coconut Grove. After six years he moved to 818 Lincoln Road - the now famous Britto Central - where celebrities, athletes, socialites and politicians from all over the world stop by to meet the artist or buy his work. Today Britto is compared with the best Pop artists of the past and present. He is represented in galleries on five continents and has had several museum exhibits in the U.S., Europe and South America. His global art dealer is Alina Shriver.

In January 2006, he was asked to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland along with artists Christo and Jean-Claude, actors Warren Beatty, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie as well as architect, Rem Koolhaas . He has also been asked, for the second time, to create the official image for the 2006 Montreaux Jazz Festival (he created the 1999 image). In December 2005, Britto joined the international short list of artists selected to participate in the Florence Biennale. Also in 2005, he was named the state of Florida’s Ambassador of the Arts.
 

Press Release:

• "Public Artist Romero Britto Visits Fort Lauderdale And ‘Hugs’ The Children"