Who is it Alfredo Luz?
In the colors of memory, Alfredo Luz (1951) creates in his paintings a set of fragments that are brought together by his senses and thoughts. Divided between the experiences of rural and urban life, he conceives a complex discourse about his views of the everyday world. What seems ordinary, becomes another element surrounded by charm and lightness. His creative universe is presented, based on his technical ability to create shapes with perfect color harmony, conveying a feeling of purity, sensitivity and fantasy. the painting of Alfredo Luz reflects the melancholy nostalgia when telling stories as strange as they are disconcerting of bird-men, landscape-women, humanized boats conducive to the idealization of voyages and shipwrecks. In the fusion of elements, imagery tries to combine opposites, night and day, Bosch's surrealism and Bruegel's telluric realism. In the mist, the fantastic vision of the Portuguese painter partially dilutes the hardness of the contours, accentuating, in chiaroscuro, the mystery and fascination of the image. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with other surrealist artists such as Cruzeiro Seixas It is Luzia Lage.
the work of Alfredo Luz is it surreal?
In the context of the vanguards of the 1920s, surrealism emerges, an artistic and literary movement that expresses the thoughts of the unconscious. Strongly influenced by the psychoanalytic theories of the psychologist Sigmund Freud, in 1924 André Breton wrote the Surrealist Manifesto. The irrational, dreams and madness become the main motto of surrealist artistic production. Surrealist artists believed that art could reveal profound truths about the human mind and reality, and that these truths were beyond rational understanding. In their works, they explored the unconscious and subjectivity through various techniques such as collage. In the international context, this movement is marked by artists such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Joan Miró and Max Ernst. These artists created works that were both surprising and strange, combining elements of reality with dreamlike and fantastic imagery. One of the most famous works by Salvador Dalí is "The Dream" (1931), which shows a dreamlike scene in which several strange objects float in a blue sky. Another important work by Salvador Dalí is "The Persistence of Memory" (1931), which features bizarre clocks hanging in a desolate landscape. Another surrealist who marked this movement was René Magritte, known for his paintings that defy logic and reason, such as "The Betrayal of Images" (1929), which shows a pipe with the inscription "this is not a pipe". In Portugal, the movement follows the artistic aesthetics of Paris, with artists such as Mário Cesariny, Cruzeiro Seixas, Mário-Henrique Leiria, António Maria Lisboa, Mário-Henrique Leiria, Marcelino Vespeira, António Dacosta, among others.
the works of Alfredo Luz they fit in a technically surrealist language, due to the proportions, however the intention is not surrealist. The Portuguese artist partially identified with this movement, however due to the contesting nature of Surrealism, the artist does not feel free to claim that his work is Surrelist, as he is not protesting against anyone.
His characters are always in a working attitude, ending up being a triumph of work, while the surrealists favored other subjects and recording. His painting turns out to be a blanket of solutions, resorting to surrealism, abstract, naturalism or even his imagined cities, always depending on the message he wants to convey. Undoubtedly, the basis of his works continues to be surrealist but incorporates other elements to give voice to his thoughts. There is in his pieces a demonstration of a certain nostalgia linked to the cycles of nature itself and the lack of connection to the earth. The desertification of the interior lands and the destruction of nature are themes that bother him a lot. Thus, the essential message that Alfredo Luz wants to convey is the triumph of work, with an ecological message. “The earth is so generous and we are not generous with it” — Alfredo Luz
The painting techniques of Alfredo Luz
The first works were in oil for its ease, however, currently he usually paints in acrylic, as oil is a very toxic material. He claims that painting in oil is easier because it is more practical, but that painting in acrylic is a challenge because the paint dries so quickly. Thus, he forced the artist to create a new method of painting, making his creation more spontaneous and with a greater ability to resolve.
career of Alfredo Luz
Born in Riomeão, Santa Maria da Feira, in 1951, he studied Visual Education for several years in cities such as Luanda, Arouca, Felgueiras, Moimenta da Beira, Caneças and Lisbon. Alfredo Luz is one of the forerunners of the Portuguese surrealist movement, together with Carlos Calvet and António Maria Lisboa. Due to this fact, he was part of the master’s thesis “The Critical Fortune of Surrealism in Portugal From Pioneers to Alfredo Luz ", Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in 2011, by M. Raquel Costa. He exhibits regularly in Portugal and abroad and has participated in several art fairs: Feira de Arte Contemporânea – Lisbon, 2006; Arte Madrid – Madrid, 2007 and the International Exhibition of Surrealism – Santiago de Chile, 2008.
