Sobre olhar ao inverso 2019

Alberto Pereira made this mixed media piece on canvas, titled 'Sobre olhar ao inverso'. The title translates to something like "On looking at the inverse," which is a helpful hint to how we might approach the work. There's a real sense of process here, a kind of layering and excavation. The ground is a riot of blues, greens, reds and yellows, scumbled and smeared like a graffitied wall. Then, pasted on top, is a black and white image of a figure doing a handstand, with wings! The feet point skyward, the face is painted with wild colors, like a mask. The texture is amazing. You can almost feel the grit of the paint, the roughness of the canvas. It’s like Pereira is inviting us to touch, to feel the energy of his making. Look at the wings! They sprout from the figure's back like dark thoughts, but the overall effect is strangely uplifting. The whole thing reminds me a bit of Jean-Michel Basquiat, in the way it mixes high and low, beauty and chaos. It's a reminder that art doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be real.