..."among lights and colors that define a mythical environment and suggest a changed perception of consciousness, Antonio Mendes’s paintings highlight the mystical aura that usually goes unnoticed when one watches a Maracatu Rural parading through the streets of Olinda or in any other outdoor spaces around here. .." and continuing ... " Felipe Botelho The maracatu series was inspired by the movements and "religiousness" that makes, from a certain point of view, the presentation of the groups mystical. The photographs that served as a basis for the accomplishment of the works were taken at Olinda carnival. The attempt of that series was to come closer in a approach “bigger” than the plastic one - observable in the colors and ornaments of the spear caboclos -; I wanted to enter the personal "trip" of how those men, almost entities, felt in their own frantic, “religious” rhythm. If an observer is able to spend some time contemplating each one of these magical paintings, he or she will feel the divine dimension contained not only in the spear caboclos or in any other popular manifestation. If he or she allows him/herself to surrender to what he/she can perceive beyond the game of light and color, he/she will find references to feel the force of all divinities inside him/herself"