|
The First Art Newspaper on the Net |
|
Established in 1996 |
|
Sunday, October 6, 2024 |
|
'Rui Moreira: I am a Lost Giant in a Burnt Forest' on view at Mudam Luxembourg |
|
|
Rui Moreira, The Machine of Entangling Landscapes VI, 2011. Gouache and gel pen on paper, 160 x 238 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris© Rui Moreira. Photo: Laura Castro Caldas.
|
LUXEMBOURG.- The pictures by the Portuguese artist Rui Moreira reflect a very personal universe. The drawings, in a large or very large format, often take several months to be realised with their meticulous and precise details, in an almost meditative state. Whether the content is figurative or abstract, they always express the inner experiences that the artist has had on his travels, through close contact with new and far away cultures and religions, and sometimes with a resonance connected to literature, music and cinema.
For Moreira, drawing is a holistic and physically intensive experience in which it is necessary for him to involve both body and soul. Furthermore, his travels are not just a source of inspiration. Their external circumstances also produce a specific, individual mood that finds an echo in his works. For example, the days of almost uninterrupted and lonely work in extreme temperatures, during a sojourn, at the barren edge of the desert in the south of Morocco has had just as much impact on him as his trip to India; which took him not only to Buddhist and Hindu holy sites, but also gave him the opportunity to engage with the art of Tibetan mandalas in a monastery in Dharamsala. Moreover, a stay in the mountainous landscapes of Portugal's north-east, which took him back to the places of his childhood, brought him into contact with the local carnival and the Caretos, the mask-wearers whose activities derive from a three-thousand-year-old fertility cult. The experiences gleaned from his own participation in this cult directly influenced his drawings, according to Moreira, I see field work as an important aspect of my activities. The intensive inner experience gives the drawing a greater depth. I like to draw from the inside out.
The works by Moreira can be divided up, without any sharp distinction, into figurative, landscape and abstract motifs. Like the eponymous poem by the Portuguese author Herberto Hélder, A Máquina de Emaranhar Paisagens, which inspired the artists series of geometric and abstract configurations, his drawings are "machines of entangling landscapes".
Generally, the artist pays special attention to the titles of his work. They are chosen with special care and they add further layers of depth to the abundance of formal associations and thematic references. Additionally, the figures, evoking both the Tuaregs and the Caretos, give the drawings a narrative, even mythical content. The titles, without being illustrative, refer either to literary sources (Im a Lost Giant in a Burnt Forest, which is a quote from the novel 2666 by the Chilean author Robert Bolaño and refers as well to a particular moment of the artists life...), or to cinema (the mentioned work has also been mainly inspired by Werner Herzogs film Fitzcarraldo, as well as e.g. David Lynch's series Twin Peaks had an impact on the drawing The Man of the Log). Current political topics are also represented, such as the 2007 Portuguese referendum on abortion, in his artwork Our Lady of Abortion.
|
|
|
|
|
Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography, Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs, Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, . |
|
|
|
Royalville Communications, Inc produces:
|
|
|
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful
|
|