ARTIST STATEMENT
Art and anti-formalism: Collage as a mixed way of dematerializing elements and re-materializing them with love.
The formalism in the encounter with the “classical” forms of art denotes two things: rigidity and respect. There must be respect because there is a whole history, contextualization and transforming intentions of the world contained in the history of art, in its movements and currents, which must be cherished. But respecting does not mean being hostage to specific techniques or currents.
And that's why rigidity, in my opinion, doesn't make sense. We don't need to know all the techniques to create something new on a canvas. We don't even need to attend more or less intellectual gatherings to write a story. We don't need to dress up, suit and tie, to read poetry or put on a monocle and brush our beard to go to the movies.
So why should we feel that there is cultural, social elitism when we appreciate art?
Art must be uncomplicated to make, and it can still be complex to interpret. And Art should be always open to multiple sources of inspiration, not necessarily starting from academic learning. Inspiration can come from a book, a series, a song, a phrase, a conversation, a child´s absurd idea, a color or a fraction of light.
It is the intersection, the overlap or even the exclusion of ideas that allows us to arrive at different concepts.
Art should be part of our daily lives. With wonder and curiosity. Practiced and experienced daily. If art transforms the world, only in this way will it be democratized and reach a greater number of people.
This is why collage collectives (and art collectives) have a HUGE VALUE and importance. Because they bring creators closer to each other, in a logic of positivity, and strengthen the connection between artists and the community in general. A comment from a layman is worth as much as a comment from a fellow artist. And everyone is welcome.
Specifically, collagists are a kind of sublime artist. When we interact with each other it is always highly rewarding.
ARTIST BIO
My name is João Pedro Nunes and I live in PORTUGAL, in the Azores archipelago, on the island of São Miguel. Happily married, I have three children, one aged 17, another aged 8 and the youngest aged 2. A curious and challenging sequence.
I'm a Millennial from 1983, ultra permeable to 80s paraphernalia mixed with media products. In my mind were deposited, in layers, Sabre Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Rolls of Film, Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Typewriters from my mom's workplace, Denver the Last Dinossaur, Vintage Retro Bakeware Casseroles, Transformers, Pictionary Junior, Alf TV series, Cassette tapes and traded mixtapes with friends, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Slap bracelets, Care Bears, Walkman, Arcade machines, Overhead projectors in classrooms, Masters of the Universe, Floppy Disks, Rotary Phones, Car Window Cranks, VHS Tapes, Yellow Pages, Cars Ashtrays and Father Vinyl Records.
I have always made art for myself. I've always written for myself, I've always designed and edited for myself, I've always made music for myself (drums, bass, Digital audio workstations).
Maybe I was always shy about showing what I did…
I never paid much attention to social media. I only learned to “move” on instagram in November 2020, regarding an issue related to my work as the person in charge of projects that link youth, education, delinquency and art.
And everything changed…
Because I was able to get to know the collectives, clubs and communities of Collage.
The truth is that what I really wanted was to be a writer. Create new worlds and different stories. And what Collage has shown me is that you can create “small stories” without using pen and paper. More seriously, I took the “scalpel” on March 2021. And my mind expanded with different ideas, putting off and procrastinating the books I wanted (and want) to write…
I'm a clinical psychologist. My basic training is in psychoanalysis and dynamic psychology. Psychoanalysis is the art of meanings, perfectly based on the idea of interpretation. It is the cure through the word and the re-signification of narratives. The interpretation of dreams and the appreciation of the unconscious.
Collage is nothing but this: the reinterpretation of unconsciously dispersed elements, the creation of a new narrative, a new look. Each work is a new reality that, until the moment it is finished, has a set of different parts of each one. Concepts such as the feminine, the beautiful, justice or the dreamy mix with everyday life, with desires and frustrations, with landscapes, with buildings, with everyday life.
So, somehow, I have always been connected to this way of uniting or reinterpreting realities.
I confess some fascination with what is ancient and Brutalist art. Through a kind of dynamic archeology, I am interested in placing what was once modern in collision with what can be modern today and which, in the future, will also be mere memory.
I still have a tendency towards absurdism. A taste for double meanings, for irony, for nonsense, for incongruity and inconsistency. And a fascination with error, with failure, with the surreal.