Vitae Mutao Est #7 Print

Born in Lisbon in 1967, this is the city where I have lived most of my life. While a student I also lived in Belgium and France for a few years. I was born in a family of architects, art collectors and artists which allowed me to contact with the world of art at a very young age, wether it would be music, painting or sculpture. I was introduced to museums, concerts and theaters very early. As a child I used to draw all the time on any surface that was available, which brought me frequent punishments. Thanks to my father, who lived in Brussels for many years and took me on a few trips in Europe, I was lucky enough to visit almost all of the great museums and therefore see and feel some art pieces that still move me. As a surfer I traveled a lot around the world, which allowed me to better understand the human being and his social and cultural differences, while getting life experience, these trips also allow me to presence different art forms. Between 1989 and 1994 I painted a lot on my spare time, then I quitted because I felt that I had to pursue my professional goals. In time I realised I had a job that didn’t satisfy me at all and that I lived in a world of lies. With this awareness I changed my profession and started working for some years in the environmental area. Since 2016 I have been feeling compelled to go back to art and therefore today I spend many time painting, which makes me feel complete and better. In the last year I have undergone different experiments and I feel my work evolving, even knowing that art is an incessant quest and that we are never really satisfied with our work. As one of my showjumping masters once told about horse riding “You may spend a whole life riding and improving you skills as a rider, but be sure that you will die learning” art, from my point of view, is much the same. For me subjects are insights that come from within, they reflect my culture, state of mind and life experiences as well as my inner search. I work with acrylics and gesso, because these are the materials I feel most comfortable with, technically, abstract expression is the style that better reflects my ideas and feelings, I also paint on the floor which allows me to see my work from different perspectives while I develop it.