Claudyo Casares
The artist moves through history of art and creates mysterious images
which stuck into our heads. They are cubist figures from Picasso
work, all put together in one only image.
The colorful forms which are the basis of his paintings create diagrams
with colors and forms which remind us the Byzantine stained
glass-windows.
In an endless search, the artist studies Picasso and Matisse
figures and the geometry of Mondrian. Casares view of those pieces
of art, confirms his job quality, and his search for knowledge is
merely an act of noblesse, once he takes less risks when he bases his
work in such great masters references.
He can’t be considered a regional artist because his restless mind
leads him beyond country boarders; he’s plugged to the world.
Globalization may still not be a reality in his life, but this new form
of imperialism (this intellectual domination) can be perceived in his
style through which we can tell the walking spirit of the artist.
This contamination can also be seen in his works, through the
incorporation of different images representing the cultures he has
already known.
In his painting “Guernica- nightmare that never finishes”, the
symbols of the holocaust are the same evil mentors who inflict physical
and mental pain to the contemporary world. “The cows of marshland”,
other painting in homage to Picasso, was idealized based on the
origami ( a Japanese paper-folding art) and having the walls of
Chapada dos Guimarães as a background. In his paintings
Gatonças, “The feline courtship” and “The dance of fish”, in honor to Mato
Grosso state, he represents the typical elements of its geography like
Cuiaba River and Santo Antonio Hill. The series “The dance of masked”, beyond the reference to the popular culture from the
local natives, highlights a typical musical instrument called viola
de cocho and it suggests an intercultural dialogue through the masks
of the movie idols Batman and Robin. The painting “Cock” with his
corkscrew form peak and “Accordion man” reflects his memories of the
time he lived in Portuguese lands.
By producing his own Pietá, the artist mocks the pain caused by
the economical and cultural differences: a homeless woman holding her
son. Mother and child cry their hearts out standing at a palace door
represented by an icon of the local culture: Santo Antonio Hill. Behind
the people the viewer can read a sign which says: Smile! You’re on
camera. The globalization is also a theme of his morbid side. In
“Dinner of globalization”, human heads are served to be eaten with
knives and forks. On the other hand, he’s got a romantic- poetic side.
In ”Harmony in red”, Casares creates a perfect matching of red and blue
enriched by the lights of the white chairs; and through the window,
instead of the cold Russian landscape, he painted the sea view from his
studio in Lisbon.
His women are his own doubts. His eyes recreate ...