From urban interventions to CASACOR: Eduardo Srur's 30-year trajectory

A human figure approximately two meters tall and weighing 100 kilos, positioned at the tip of a board, appears to be about to jump at any moment. The scene, which caused astonishment among visitors, was one of the highlights of CASACOR Espírito Santo 2026. It is the sculpture Trampolim, O Velho (Springboard, The Old Man), a creation by visual artist Eduardo Srur brought to the Arte Habita project by Fontoura Grasselli Arquitetura, in partnership with Galeria Matias Brotas.

Trampolim, O Velho (Felipe Araújo/CASACOR)

The installation is among the most emblematic works of the 30-year career of the São Paulo-based artist. A Fine Arts graduate from FAAP, Eduardo Srur built his trajectory primarily through large-scale urban interventions – which occupy the city landscape to provoke reflections on environmental issues while, at the same time, bringing art closer to everyday life.

At CASACOR, the sculpture sparked surprise among visitors and even among pedestrians and drivers passing near the former Hotel Canto do Sol. Some believed they were facing a real man about to jump. The reaction echoes, on another scale and context, the impact provoked by the first presentation of the Trampolim series in São Paulo in 2014.

The work that made São Paulo look at the river

Trampolim, O Velho is one of the six works that made up the Trampolim series, installed on the bridges of the Pinheiros River in the São Paulo capital. "I wanted to provoke a new perspective on the urban landscape in front of this super-polluted river," Eduardo explains in an interview with CASACOR. The hyper-realistic mannequins were positioned at the ends of boards facing the river, creating an image as familiar as it was impossible: people apparently ready to dive into waters that, due to pollution, could not be enjoyed by citizens.

Trampolim - O Velho (CASACOR)

The intervention had great repercussion in the city and unexpectedly took over social media. Among the episodes recorded during its stay in São Paulo were more than 200 worried calls to the police and even a firearm shot against precisely O Velho. Another of the sculptures had its head torn off during the exhibition period.

Trampolim (Kana Filmes/CASACOR)

"O Velho, which was on display at CASACOR Espírito Santo, was shot at point-blank range. The bullet goes through the sculpture — and I embraced that shot, it is painted there! From the moment the work goes to the street, you no longer have control of the situation. I think that urban intervention has this organic quality, this relationship with life itself," he explains.

The city as raw material

Eduardo Srur has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Brazil and in countries such as Switzerland, England, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Croatia. In the 2000s, he decided to move away from the official arts circuit and began to build an independent trajectory, which he himself relates to the figure of the artist-entrepreneur. From then on, bridges, polluted rivers, public parks, and vacant lots began to function as the "canvases" for his production.

Pets, de Eduardo Srur (CASACOR)

There is no single visual formula in Srur's works. Materials, scales, and techniques change from one project to another, while one element remains constant: the interest in uncomfortable issues of contemporary daily life. According to the artist, his creative process usually begins precisely with the identification of "society's mistakes". "My work as an artist is to bring light to these dark and forgotten spaces," he says.

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When talking about his process, Srur also establishes a relationship with Mind and Heart, the theme guiding CASACOR's projects in 2026. "You have to have mind, reason and strategy so that your work reaches other people. I think art has to speak to others, not just to the artist — I believe contemporary art has a bit of this flaw. Meanwhile, you also need sensitivity to create, and the heart is the symbol of this emotional field".

Three decades of art gathered in one book

Eduardo Srur's encounter with CASACOR Espírito Santo 2026 also marked an important moment in his career: the launch of his second book. Twelve years after Manual da Intervenção Urbana, the artist was at the show to present a publication that revisits his 30 years of artistic production. "It's the story of a rather outsider artist, who ended up building his career without dependence on the art market and its agents", he describes.

Livro (CASACOR)

Titled A Arte Salva, the book begins with the first paintings made by Srur in the early 1990s and chronologically traces his main artistic interventions. The publication also brings together sculptures, prints and audiovisual works developed in the following decades, up to the social actions that have come to occupy an important part of his more recent production.

From urban intervention to the formation of new audiences

After the book launch, one of Eduardo Srur's main focuses in 2026 is the social project Retratos Plásticos. The initiative brings artistic activities and group exhibitions to different communities in São Paulo (SP). According to the artist, more than 15,000 children and teachers have already been reached by the program over the past three years.

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The next exhibition will be held at CEU Casablanca, until September 25, with free admission. "It's a big project, which has demanded a lot of my time and energy. I'm very pleased with it, because I take art to places that would never have this possibility", he concludes.

Retratos Plásticos (CASACOR)