The paintings created by Mateus Moreira are an invitation to enter imaginary landscapes in which time and space, figurative and abstract merge into a fluid and dreamlike representation. In his works, the coexistence between figurative and abstract seeks the viewer's gaze to be part of these “non-places”.
On the same canvases where spots appeal to emotions and states of mind, Mateus uses figurative drawings, portraying scenes with seas and lakes populated by animals and undefined beings, strange characters side by side with absolutely everyday figures. The abstract, sometimes dark forms, cause space-time displacement, transporting the viewer to a dimension of dreams and sensoriality. If there is estrangement, there is also the attraction to archetypal symbols, as if referring to memories of lived or imagined times of intimate experiences, but which suggest collective experiences. Temporality is expressed in historical references, in the evocation of possible pasts or futures, in which figures disappear or reveal themselves to be explicitly present, in a game of (dis)appearances, like memory or dreams.
In his process, influenced by observational drawing and by great painting masters – Monet, Goya, Giacometti, Munch – the figurative elements support the landscapes or interfere with them, overlapping in order to emphasize icons of the universal imagination and the history of art itself - angels, beasts, naked women, children and old people.
The overlapping of techniques in Mateus' paintings reinforces the intuitive and cathartic freedom of the artist, who uses pictorial stains to elaborate and refine his formal compositions. The use of warm and cold colors, the use of expressionist brushstrokes, washes and figurative details on the same canvas make clear his willingness to experiment and reinforce the uniqueness of his work.
The 15 canvases presented in Conselhos feature recent compositions in which he uses small and medium formats in which he explores this imaginary universe. The references move from the urban – a recurring theme in previous works – to the mythological, with an air of mystery in which revelation and mystery coexist, reinforced by the palette that explores the contrast between light and dark.
Pablo Pires
