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Creation and destruction, life and death - this is the field of tension in José Gomes' drawings. With a clear reference to Brazilian nature and culture, some of his works on paper look like collages that develop a strong pictorial depth. Gomes' research for his drawings also includes the study of drone images of Brazil's primeval forests, which show exactly how these important habitats are being destroyed. These findings, as well as the examination of Brazilian art history and handicrafts, flow into Gomes' delicate drawings, in which the figurative is often broken up by abstract elements and thus tells its very own story."
Dr. Carla Cugini _ Geschäftsführende Vorständin der Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung
Firmitas
José Gomes' artistic work is characterized by two elements - nature as the main motif and its inexhaustible style. The environment reveals itself as a sensitive, delicate, fragile, seductive, necessary, imperishable part of life. The works created by José Gomes for this exhibition were created as part of his work as a scholarship holder of a residency program at the Botanical Garden and the Institute of Biology at the University of Rostock. The research and discussions, the immersion and observation of plants that the artist experienced there flowed into the series Firmitas - a Latin word that means durability, firmness, permanence, stability, strength, resistance and reliability. These characteristics can also be found in the plants analyzed there. On the basis of these properties, man and science will drive forward not only human but also technological development in the course of climate change. The result is a series of collages made up of photographs of these plants. These were transferred onto paper using a transfer technique and supplemented with drawings and watercolors. The natural aquifers that exist in Brazil and maintain the ecosystem can be seen in the background. The works are a compendium of the diversity of these natural resources that should show us the way to the future.
Tereza de Arruda – Art Historian and Curator
Environment, development, violence, the fate of humanity and the planet are some of the themes that guide my thoughts and therefore my artistic work. How the current capitalist social system allows us to see and observe life, our values and how we relate and act with the environment to see the future.
The content of my work focuses on the landscape, man's actions in nature and the paradox between his dependence on nature and his destructive actions. Based on these premises, nature can only exist as a shadowy element, the result of this reality.
After an intense period dedicated to printmaking, my drawing is strongly influenced by it, whether in the robustness or lightness of the line or in the tonal areas on the surface of the paper. My questions began to deal with their limits and contexts.
The result of this experience is the confrontation and dialog of drawing with other techniques.
The series Brincadeira (Gambling) deals with the tension between drawing, print and object. The aerial photographs of satellites and drones of forests, with their scientific and investigative character, photos collected on the Internet of vegetables, fruits, foods, products of the earth, are transferred to paper and coated with layers of graphite in geometric shapes; graphic elements from both the culture or body painting of the indigenous people and the political-economic speculation of the agro-industry.
The reproducibility of the image, free and infinite on the Internet, generally refers to the concept of printing, as well as the lines and tonal areas of graphite to the mezzotint, watercolor, lithography and etching, as well as painting with the transparency of graphite on the transfer. The drawings are cut out and mounted on a stained wooden surface to give them a three-dimensional character. In diptychs and polyptychs, the work can be regrouped in various ways, changing the composition but retaining its plasticity.
Playing with the concept. Playing with the facts.
José Gomes