Brazilian artist paints mural of Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love in downtown Sao Paulo ahead of Eagles' season opener
SAO PAULO (CBS/AP) -- Ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles' season opener against the Green Bay Packers in Sao Paulo, two artists have completed murals commemorating the NFL's stop in the country.
One 108-foot high mural depicts Packers quarterback Jordan Love alongside the Eagles' Jalen Hurts.
That mural was designed by graffiti artist Crica Monteiro, who worked with six other people on the massive project. It was completed in just 11 days.
Another mural from artist Bruno Big shows an Eagles player and a Packers player battling for possession of a football. The artist said the building is 42 meters (137 feet) tall at its highest point and that the work was completed in eight days, using over 200 liters of paint.
Both murals were commissioned by the NFL in partnership with local company Dionisio Arte.
The request to Monteiro's team was to depict the sport with a Sao Paulo touch. Many outsiders and some of the city's own 12 million residents call it a concrete jungle in the tropics. The artist used orange, red and yellow to represent the tropics and depicted Sao Paulo's grey sidewalk beneath them.
"I mostly do graffitis of Black women, so it was totally unexpected to do this," Monteiro told The Associated Press by phone. "These two are interesting people. What I brought was not to put them against each other. I wanted to catch the subtlety of their expressions. My characters always have a deep look."
Monteiro said she became more interested in American football after hearing the story of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who in 2016 began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.
"American football is in a position of defiance for me, and so is NBA basketball. When I thought about Hurts and Love up there, I thought of two Black men playing their own game and trying to win," the artist said.
Monteiro believes the paintings will make some Brazilians more interested in American football.
"Sao Paulo is different from other cities in Brazil. It is more multicultural. Our people are very curious and very creative," she said.
