Bruno started his career in the 90’s as a Graffiti artist, painting scenery for music shows, bars and nightclubs. In 1993, he began his formal studies in the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), where he took courses on observational drawing and oil painting. In 1998 arrived in Recife Shunishi Yamada, a Japanese master in oriental painting and anatomy drawing. At this time, Vilela who was a student at the Fine Arts course of UFPE, decided to abdicate college to dedicate himself to the lessons with Master Yamada, someone the artist credits all his knowledge.

“I have fantastical dreams and nightmares. I would like to photograph these events that arise from the unconscious during my sleep. In the impossibility of doing so, I transform them into paintings. So the problem in my painting is psychological”, says the artist. Vilela’s work builds on the deconstruction and reallocation of the ancestral myths, the liturgies and the imaginary of religions, the primitive thought and the obsession to make “visible” the images of the unconscious. Since 2010 he has been developing research on the triple frontier between photography, drawing and painting. Currently, he seeks a relationship between visual arts and literature. “My paintings tell stories of a personal mythology. I am not interested in producing contemporary art, contingent of its own time. My motivation is to create a timeless work”, tell us the artist. His working process is very close to the cinema. He prepares the set with model, actress, costumes, lighting and shoots the scene. Then, he chooses the best image to paint. The oil paint goes where the lens could not reach. Vilela’s works in dry pastel are also on a border between the painting and the drawing. Stain made in dry technique on paper. Photographic image revealed with the use of rubber and charcoal on paper. In 2014 the film-makers Beto Brant and Cláudio Assis produced a documentary about the artist’s work. In 2018 the filmmaker Markus Avaloni produced an other documentary to Arte 1 chanel about his work.