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The works of Arlindo Armacollo, a 77-year-old Brazilian businessman, have become

memes that go around the world

after Internet users rescued this week a report on his works made in 2015 by a television in the city of Rolandia, in the southern state of

Paraná

.

At that time, Armacollo exhibited in a church in the municipality the sculptures of some of his most important creations, among them that of

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

, Nelson Mandela,

Elvis Presley and

Charles Chaplin.

Detail of the sculpture of the silent film actor Charles Chaplin.

Despite the jokes that his wax figures have sparked, the artist does not let himself be dejected, ignores criticism and attributes the resounding repercussion to a "bad joke" from the "internet children": "Now everyone knows my work", he says in a telephone interview.

"They did the publicity at the time of the exhibition and someone took a photo as if to make fun, a silly joke. But it came out on the internet and took all that proportion," he completes.

For 20 years, Armacollo has shared his time between the world of business and that of art, and for a year he has also managed his own small museum, the

Izidoro Armacollo,

in which he gathers his main works.

Visitors in front of the wax figure of Lady Di.

In the last decades, the artist painted and donated pictures, studied and learned - in a self-taught way - new techniques and, about six years ago, he decided to also venture with wax figures.

"The first one I did was that of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. There was a priest in the city who traveled to Italy and I promised him that as soon as he returned I would make him a statue as a gift," he recalls.

Amid the "enthusiasm" for the new trade, he decided to sculpt other iconic characters, all in life

size

, to compose an exhibition.

CELEBRITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

The opening of the exhibition in 2015 was a success in the city and attracted the local press and dozens of visitors, who were able to see, in addition to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, statues of the famous actress

Marilyn Monroe,

the singer Michael Jackson, the physicist Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and even two popes, John Paul II and Francisco, among others.

But it was five years later when his wax figures conquered the world thanks to social networks.

"I'm not doing that to earn money, I did it for the city, I did it for art. If people like it, let them come and visit it. If not, then don't come. There are many people who do not care. art and on top of that they make fun of it, "says Armacollo.

Entrance to the Izidoro Armacollo Museum, in the town of Rolandia.

"But it seemed phenomenal to me, because it spread my work and the city even became better known, now everyone knows what

Rolandia

is and where it is

," a town with just over 60,000 inhabitants located 400 kilometers from Curitiba, the regional capital, clarifies .

"ARTIST VERSION CHERNOBYL"

The artist, owner of a real estate and other businesses, learned that he had become a celebrity on the networks through one of his granddaughters and confesses that, despite his optimistic outlook on life, some relatives were "upset" with sudden fame.

"One of my granddaughters, aged 13 and worried about her grandfather, came to cry with the criticism," she reveals.

This is because, along with the memes spread on the internet, there are captions such as 'Brazilian Horror Story', 'Fear of sleeping and finding one of those' or 'Chernobyl version artist'.

But Armacollo is not discouraged.

He assures that "everything in life has a purpose" and trusts that advertising will only attract more interested in knowing his productions.

"I dedicate hours to that work because it is something that I like. I think that people criticize for nothing, I do not care. That will only bring more curious", he emphasizes.

The businessman and artist Arlindo Armacollo (left) at the opening of the museum.

In fact, since the images of his works went viral, Armacollo has seen "considerably increase" the number of visitors to his museum, which reopened three months ago after several closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the premises, in addition to

18 wax sculptures,

the artist exhibits about 80 of his paintings.

"I also have about seven statues in my house, which I am working on restoring them and then exhibiting them," he emphasizes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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