Portugal is the place to be at the moment. The music, fashion and art world is taking over the scene in Europe. Let me introduce you to an outstanding artist from Portugal: David Rosado! Graduated in Fine Arts at the University of Évora in 2004, Painting / Multimedia. Begins to exhibit his work in 1996 at the Palacio D. Manuel Evora. We had an interview with the artist.
KALTBLUT: Hi David, you are currently based in Lisbon, Portugal. What makes this city a great place to live and work? Are there places you feel more creative or inspired?
David: Hello Nicolas, thank you and KALTBLUT for this interview. Living in Lisbon is something that has happened naturally. I’m from the south of Portugal (Évora) and I have lived in other places in Portugal and out of Portugal. I don’t think the geographical location is relevant or is directly related to our inspiration.
Inspiration is relates to the individual and the research each person does, nowadays it’s possible to see or read anything anywhere in the world, as it’s all online.
Being inspired is something that can happen in any city or place. I decided to move to Lisbon, because besides the sun, the light, food and tranquility of the city. I have better life quality here, and this is a very important factor for my well-being physical / psychological, this balance gives me time and space to develop my work.
KALTBLUT: When you work, do you have a special routine that you created for yourself? How does look a typical day of yours?
David: Yes, I have a routine, because I believe that with the repetition of things ends up happening something better. My day starts early 6:30am with a run and from that moment I concentrate on studio by 09:30am and work about 8 hours in the widest range of activities, including drawing, painting, sculpture, that there is no time limit.
I’m not a romantic artist, those who only paint when you have inspiration or at certain times. I am a person who believes in repetitions, make mistakes, and many, many hours of work, and only then, after several attempts can develop into a more settled and assertive way.
In the studio I’m like a robot, exploding on the canvas and paper the ideas that I have in my head. I always start with the feeling that a painting should be quick and final and that statement endorse the idea of “Luc Tuymans,” which says that the paintings must have an end on the day we started, at least in theory.
Not always happen that way, because in my paintings volumetric and modelling aspects take some time to develop. I work layer after layer, with the specific detail that I needed for each painting. But I make an effort to draw as much as possible of the original idea, eventually use the screen as a surface that goes through several stages of development in the construction of the paintings. I intend to reach a level of harmony and balance within the visible chaos, that all research, beginning or outcomes are the keys to achieving this harmony. These phases may or may not be interrupted at any time. Around 18:00pm, I left the studio where pull away any thought that defiles future interventions in my work, it’s almost as if I had a button to turn off. This is my day, and I just enjoy every moment of it.
KALTBLUT: How would you describe your own work?
David: I am inspired by the overload of a chain of information between people and spaces, physical spaces that people fill in society, such as the brands that people leave these spaces, making a greater communication gap and pushing the future development for a direct confrontation. My work results in the continuous search for elements of day-to-day, so using the Internet as demand for support of these elements.Usually I end up changing the meaning of these images obtained on the internet and with them the other I end up searching for photographs and stills from movies. They are all characterized by their discrete evaluation, historical-legal, power and memory. All these elements are the basis of my work creating inroads in languages such as pixel 80´s, marking and territorial social stratification elements. It exists as a kind of superficial banality that these paintings the lead to travel Special time of deeper implications: Homo-Heidelbergensis (is an extinct species of the Homo genus that lived in Africa, Europe and western Asia between 600,000 and 200,000 thousand years ago.) until today.
This bridge is done through behavioural and evolutionary study and graphic that is present in the paintings. A good example would be perhaps the cave paintings and all hunting inclusions that were presented in the period of Homo-Heidelbergensis.
All this leads us to the cognitive control of contributions and facilitation of perceptual aesthetic experience that are the basis of a study that extends with intensity in the territorial markings logos brands and image messages and pluralisation of them.
KALTBLUT: You’re working on so may different material, do you have any favourite Medium you’d particularly like to use?
David: I usually use mixed media in almost all the work I do, I always feel the need of using different materials to express a little better my ideas. For each series I try to get a similar approach to the previous series, implementing other dissonances aesthetic, which are focused on themes or graphics elements. I do not have a material or favourite technique; I try to use all materials without any restrictions and rules. The link between urban art and contemporary art implement in my work certain. Number of techniques and amplitudes that allow me to use a varied number of materials with total freedom. I cannot have a favourite technique or favourite material, spray´s, acrylic, oil, pastel, etc…Use what I picked up on the studio floor (laughs), or what makes sense in the work I’m doing at the time.
KALTBLUT: You create both visuals and object. Is your working progress the same in both case?
David: The process is the same, because it always starts in the paintings.
In my work I do not prepare sketches, because I feel very comfortable when I shoot directly on the surface of the canvas or paper, and in doing so, the sculptural ideas come to me in addition to the paintings. I do not consider myself a sculptor, because I always think the paintings first.
KALTBLUT: Looking at your work, it’s obvious that you’ve being inspired by pop culture.
David: Hmm !!! Not really (laughs). I am inspired by life; everything around me is the subject of an analysis that I carry for my work. For example, I can use the large head of Donald Trump mixed (Lol) with a dog’s body (Dachshund), everything counts in the approach of my paintings.
Of course I follow the great painters and their movements, but I think I’m always learning and evolving in relation to my paintings. It is a constant learning. I know at first glance people can make comparisons arising from language designs, logos and absurd, but I see it as an offshoot of this movement called Pop-Art, to tell the truth not think whether I am this or that when I am do a job just do.
I draw an image in my brain and I try to just connect it to several others that have already floating in my head. I end up never rest I constantly think of new ways to do my work. It’s very addictive and that gives me great satisfaction.
KALTBLUT: Do you feel like you approach things differently now than you did before?
David: Of course I approach things differently, in terms of purpose and ways to deal with my work, I am more experienced and focused on my work, I believe that this experience comes as a result of the aging process and experiential life brings.
Living in a period of furious and ruthless display of images, where the image takes on a banality plan that causes changes in our behaviour and lead us to a depth of analysis of our existence and purpose in life as human beings. It makes my, body work, position in current capital culture to criticize the mix, and the extreme consumerism in which we stand, forgetting thus the generations past and its legacy transmitted. I express even a little real-life situations, even if they seem stupid. For example: I recall a story that happened to me in the beginning of my art career. I had the chance of meeting with a very good gallery of Lisbon, and the gallerist was interested in meeting me, so we arranged to have lunch to talk about my work and at the time, I´ve been so stressed with this meeting that I didn´t know what to dress for this type of situations, a big problem Lol, I´m in panic, Lol. No experience and no nothing to back me up in that meeting.
Despite having spent a few hours to hate my closet and swearing, screaming in the air, that had nothing to wear, I decided to go all in the colour Brown, brown shoes, brown pants and brown polo, looked like a human poop with legs … Lol
The perfect view in that kind of meetings.
When the gallerist arrived looked at me with his mouth open, and I saw in his face that was with an expression of (OH MY GOD!!! WTF!!!), I was still very nervous and sweating of the hands, something very unusual in me.
We went to a restaurant that he chose and once that I saw prices I enter in panic, because I do not have much money to pay and I was ashamed to tell him that. I took courage and went into the restaurant.
Immediately all the people begin to look at my clothes of various shades of brown, it looked like they were getting annoyed. All eyes were on me and I managed to get the attention of the whole restaurant, (Lololol). My only goal was to make a simple exhibition in the gallery.
It asks for a fish called PARGO and I also ask for that type of fish, not getting behind. I said want one, without also remember that this fish (PARGO) has many spines and are giants spines.
While waiting for the fish…
Immediately began the bombing theoretical / aesthetic of the gallerist for my work, always saying I was young painter and did not know what to think of my work blah blah blah.
I began to sweat and become unwell with the rain of questions about my work and the only thing on my mind, was (I want to make a simple exhibition).
The fish came and he began to eat what was good because I would not take five more minutes of that conversation.
To take the first bite snapped up a huge spine on my throat, and began to bleed, people around me started looking at our table, despite having a brown stain that was me, I´m also suffering because a giant spine was stuck in my throat…
It was a terrible day, but after all the plasticity that life brings us these days are these memories that accompany us for life.
So the moral of the story is that I ended up without the exhibition in the gallery and I continued my work, but these things are real and happen to us all, and it is in these moments along with a global view of the world that I intend to make my approach contemporary art.
Never used blouses brown or brown clothing (Lol), not fashionable.
KALTBLUT: What is the best piece of advice or encouragement you’ve ever received?
David: It was definitely when a gallerist told me ‘Your art sucks’ when I first approached them, and then five years later the same gallery owner told me that I had some great work!
That was a nice surprised and somehow hilarious!
KALTBLUT: What is the best piece of advice or encouragement you’ll have for a young artist?
David: Never give up your dreams and aspirations. Believe in yourself. And never use brown clothing’s.
Contact:
Website: rosadodavi.wix.com/davidrosado
Instagram: @davidrosado655
E-mail: davidrosado09@gmail.com
Presença Gallery: www.galeriapresenca.pt
Emerge Art Agency: emergeart.agency/david-rosado
