Top

Interlúdio by Martîm at AMAC Gallery

In resplendent colours, a buoy surfaces from a rough sea of tiny waves.

The subject is the summer of Martîm’s childhood. A golden, late summer, in hushed tonal modulations, drenched in melancholy and Tutti-frutti colours.

But it seems that in the pleas of water, pierced by glittering and undulating shades, there dwells a foreboding of concern, an approaching, invasive and threatening wave from which it is impossible to outrun.

Other paintings evoke natural gardens surrounded by fences, where blue-tinged pools illuminate the trees and the shades of red skies in turmoil.

Happiness feels transitory. Serenity is illusory or hard to recover. The symbols of status or luxury that once ensured our eternal well-being have now vanished, eaten away by time and corroded iron. We have architectural notes, such as iron staircases, of vacant swimming pools, displaying a significant deterioration level. In Martîn’s paintings, the horizon is achieved by restless stains in warm, incandescent colours.

There are many examples, with varying colours and elements. A straight viewpoint, topped by a structure with a pink-coloured parasol and a tubular seat, mitigates the memory with its candid and ethereal childhood memories.

Other seascapes offer a glimpse of bygone happiness, inciting past futures and vain hopes. These works bring to mind modern broken, discredited and disillusioned dreams. The promise of development, the blind devotion to technology and the pretence of order, superiority over other beings and human control over all have proved devastating for the future of humanity.

Martîm’s paintings in Interlúdio, showing at AMAC Gallery, Barreiro, engage us in the everlasting tensions between nature and architecture. Frederico Valente, the exhibition’s curator, shows us paintings on canvas and tiles depicting seascapes in head-on collision with concrete buildings. But his description reminds us of the way in which these constructions “nourish the imagination and aesthetics of the ocean”[1].

Above conventions, the “act of creating”[2] establishes “a possibility of spontaneity”[3].

In painting, it involves a build-up of practical experience[4]. It takes time to achieve a body of work that blends intuition, praxis and concept[5].

Playing off “stain and sign”[6], the “lines lend identity to the background”[7]. And we observe the way Martîm reveals the brushstrokes “on the streaked surfaces of clouds he has depicted”[8] or the veiled stains on the sky.

There is something going on inside, like the swimming pools, or the ‘lookout’ spots on the beaches, but the event occurs in the composition backdrop, which the artist treats with the same care.

We see warm backgrounds surrounded by grey shores. A sunset contrasting with the flowing sea green. More sea and pink mountains. Yellowish green islands blending with the orange of the sky.

Irregularly arranged tiles on the wall usher in something new. Freed from the traditional grid, they dot the gallery and reinforce the idea of landscape painting, but on a medium other than canvas.

Interlúdio by Martîm, curated by Frederico Vicente, is showing at AMAC Gallery until 27 October.

 

[1] Words by Frederico Vicente, curator of the exhibition Interlúdio. Exhibition text.
[2] Oliveira, A. P. (2022). “O cérebro dos dedos das mãos”. A pintura é uma lição. Coord. by António Quadros Ferreira. Edições Afrontamento, p. 51.
[3] Ibidem.
[4] Ibidem.
[5] Ibidem.
[6] Molder, M. F. (1999). Matérias Sensíveis. Relógio D’Água, pp. 14-15.
[7] Ibidem.
[8] Ibidem.

Carla Carbone was born in Lisbon, 1971. She studied Drawing in Ar.co and Design of Equipment at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon. Completed his Masters in Visual Arts Teaching. She writes about Design since 1999, first in the newspaper O Independente, then in editions like Anuário de Design, arq.a magazine, DIF, Parq. She also participates in editions such as FRAME, Diário Digital, Wrongwrong, and in the collection of Portuguese designers, edited by the newspaper Público. She collaborated with illustrations for Fanzine Flanzine and Gerador magazine. (photo: Eurico Lino Vale)

Signup for our newsletter!


I accept the Privacy Policy

Subscribe Umbigo

4 issues > €34

(free shipping to Portugal)