Guardian Painting

Fernando Ferreira de Araujo, Brazilian born New York artist. (n.1962, Brazil) In 1976 he studies art and painting with Pierre Chalita, Maceió - AL, Brazil. With a major in business, he moves to New York City in 1986 to study design for the textile industry. In 1989 two of his works are selected by the "Museu do Estado de Pernambuco" for the art competition "Salão de Novos". In 1987 he starts developing projects as a designer for the fashion and textile industry. He moves to São Paulo in the year 2000. In 2003 he leaves everything behind and moves back to New York City in order to take a deep plunge in the art scene. In 2010 he was listed by Vogue Magazine and Brazil Foundation as one of the 100 most influential Brazilians in new York City. He's been invited to a great number of solo and group shows in the USA and Europe. With his studio in Manhattan, he's been a member of The Art Students League of New York since 2004. "He seeks new ways of expressing the figure, deconstructing the form while increasing its prominence in each piece. He fuses and equates an organic world with the pulsating life inherent in it. The compositional integration of the form into the surrounding environment is heightened by his use of light and dark. The intensity of his brushstroke guides the eye and creates a larger gesture and sense of movement. While looking at Ferreira de Araujo´s body of work we tend to relate it to "Modern Painters" by John Ruskin (1843-60). In his five volume work, Ruskin wrote of the poetic practice of ascribing human characteristics, such as emotions, feelings and sensations, to inanimate objects or to nature. ". Hallie Cohen Chair, Art Department, Marymount Manhattan College, and Curator of The Philoctetes Center New York, NY
www.fernandoaraujo.net www.ferreiradearaujo.com