Boogeyman (Sarronco)

The clay artist reveals the boogeyman of his childhood.

We usually call him Papão (Boogeyman), but in Barcelos (Minho, Portugal), they call him Sarronco. That's what the potter António Ramalho's mother and the other adults called him and his friends whenever mischief got the better of them.

Here. Comes. The Sarronco!

That's enough, we're already getting chills.

Maybe it's a good sign that we don't know what the Boogeyman looks like. That António never knew what the Sarronco looked like. It means he never caught us.

Or did he?

Enough, seriously.

But it also means that António grew up a little haunted by this invisible, shapeless terror from his Barcelos youth. That is exactly what great art is made of - ghosts, curiosity, and, in this case, clay.

Looking closely at António's Sarronco now, perhaps he might have given António and his friends a little fright, but immediately joined the children's games afterwards. It is by far António's most colourful figure to date.

Yes, those kids probably had the Sarronco on their side.

Maybe they did.

The masterful potter António Ramalho is the great-grandson of Rosa Ramalho, one of the most popular Portuguese potters to this day, who shaped the popular clay figures of Barcelos throughout the 20th century.