Sad With a Square / Pós & Triste ao Quadrado
Painting series in exhibition and projection of film piece with live soundtrack
at Catorze Associação Cultural
This painting series portrays scenes of interiors and intimacy moments where the square as a motif is present throughout (as doors and windows) and becomes less evident as the narrative of the scenes fades into dream.
In Frames of Mind several “windows” overlay and overlap, evidencing partiality: each section reveals fragments of the painting, some shared, some singled out.
This overlay of moments reemerges in Doors: the theme of intimacy in the home, doorknobs, light switches and roaming through the house at night.
The path through the rooms brings us closer to the comfort of Sleep and Dream, where the line that defines the square become less evident in the image but retained in the shape of the surface.
Frames of Mind
2020
Oil on canvas
44 x 118 cm
Doors
2022
Oil on Canvas
100 x 70 cm
Stairs
2022
Oil on canvas
74 x 46 cm
Whispers
2022
Oil on canvas
35 x 68 cm
Sleep
2022
Oil on MDF board
30 x 30 cm
Dream
2022
Oil on MDF board
30 x 30 cm
During the making of the paintings, a film pieces starts to develop in parallel. The film starts by showing destruction and reconstruction of the family home, timeless feelings of melancholy and abandonment; and the Inside / Outside dichotomy, as seen from the squared frame of a door or window.
This Square becomes a living character that escapes, materialising as a two-way mirror glass sample (blue tint from feeling blue) and turns into an aid for the character’s sadness: a portable window is a portal. As such, the rotations of this square bring different realities into the hands of the character.
This footage if accompanied by a live soundtrack composed by Beatriz Santa-Rita and performed by Beatriz Santa-Rita, Lourenço Motta Veiga and Diogo Cabrita.
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Link to full film: https://vimeo.com/788323537