Bula Temporária is a Brazilian term that means ‘temporary medicine’. It was from this natural and artistic concept that Davidson Lopes began to heal from anxiety attacks, stress, and panic syndrome due to the stressful career of a videomaker at a public university. He found art to heal the anxiety he experienced secondary to the chaotic urban environment of his home city, Juiz de Fora, Brazil. No antidepressants or anxiolytics were needed despite the large offer and insistence of doctors.
In the same year, while walking the dog, Bula began to collect and paint recyclable materials that were thrown on the street, leaving the artworks in unusual places to surprise anyone who saw them. Parallel to these interventions, he also created paste-ups, graffiti tags with permanent markers, and drawn characters. He started to mark his name in the city.
Bula started his career with spray graffiti in 2011 by painting a large bird landing on a concrete soccer field in the neighborhood where he lived.
In 2013, Bula made his first legal large-scale painting on one of the city’s main avenues in an upscale neighborhood where there were only residences and businesses, a rare and pioneering event, as street art was not yet well-regarded and recognized as art in the city of Juiz de Fora. Through that Zupi Dog painting, he began to arouse curiosity in the community of local street artists; it was his turning point for a year of many arts and interventions.
Slowly but surely, he started to gain great recognition in the urban underground scene of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. As his influence spread through the urban street art community in his hometown, he began to define and stand out with his unique style. His style evolved around graffiti, street art, colorful Brazilian culture, naive art, abstract, freehand, experimental music, sound design, digital art, and realism.
In the following years, his career reached a national and international path, and among the mural works included: interior design work, in breweries, at the university of architecture, exhibitions, art festivals, soundtracks for animation short films, paste-ups, masks, workshops, speeches at architecture and law universities.
During his art journey, Bula participated in several street art festivals in Brazil and Australia, such as:
- Three editions of the Mostra de Graffiti Purencontro (Juiz de Fora)
- Two editions of Graffiti Absurdo (Juiz de Fora)
- Wall to Wall Festival (Benalla)
- Nacho Station Paint Jams (Bendigo)
- Shepparton Festival street art project
- Tongala Hay Bale Trail
Since moving to Australia in 2017, his community involvement and artistic development have expanded. Briefly citing some of the numerous works he has done and been involved in the land of kangaroos are:
- Shepparton Ambassador for Multicultural Arts Victoria (2018)
- Art video Animator for the Yalka Lotjpa Nha – Children Speak See – A to Z in Yorta Yorta language book with Kaiela Arts Shepparton
- Painted a small grain silo for the Dookie Nomadic Silos project
- Facilitated the Landscapes and Legends art workshop at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM)
- Won an art prize to paint a mural at Kennington Village Shopping Center (Bendigo)
- Live painting for GTM Paint Jam – Groovin the Moo (Bendigo)
- Mokoan Music Fest Live mural painting (Winton Wetlands)
- Picnic for Peace Live Painting (Shepparton)
- Volunteered mural painting at Tongala’s community veggie garden
- Volunteered mural painting at Headspace Shepparton
- Volunteered painting artwork on a 4×4 car for the health promotion charity Giz a Break (Shepparton)
- Brazilian art exhibition curator at Dookie Artists Tree
- Vinyl Art Collective Exhibition assistant (Shepparton & Bendigo)
- Collective Skate Art Exhibition assistant (Shepparton)
- St George’s Rd Community Group project which involved painting a large-scale mural (Shepparton)
- Art workshop facilitator for the Flexible Learning Centre (Shepparton)
- Several independent street art projects
Bula’s imagination flows in an artistic and Utopian way, using all the colours and flavours of his imagination. He believes anything is possible and dreams can come true. His inspiration comes from healing and he believes that we all carry ailments of some kind, in need of healing. Art is the medication for an often unfair reality we may find ourselves in.
