Art Metaphors, collage
and mixed media on canvas, Antonio Pessoa 2007, apart
from its delicious visual impact, is a result of a systematic
research across the art scene worldwide universe, with
a great help from his two collaborators, Luis Santiago
and Pierre Fontanals, two updated art experts and two
excellent art critics as well. Since 2003, Pessoa by
then already living in Barcelona, becomes more and more
interested and consequently familiarized not only with
the current on-going art events but also with the so
called modern masters and very particularly with the
contemporary top artists plus the most dynamic art galleries
mainly in Europe and United States. From then on the
artist gradually deletes the old influences, namely
the overloaded figurative items of the past waya from
his canvases and watercolors landing in the 2005 New
Era field with a totally contemporary abstract new line.
Despite the well know fact pure abstract fine art has
always been punctually present throughout the nineties,
onlu in the twenty first century comes the time when
he at last broke up with the explicit human representations
for good, becoming a symbol of advanced contemporary
art status and identity by creating a new visual arts
body of new ideas, an interesting and well expressed
studio cooking where logical conjunctio has been skillfully
overtaken by a strongly communicative art projection
style. Antonio Pessoa's successful puzzling recent artworks
leave no doubt of the exciting art language switch opening
new windows overlooking bright colorful fields of spacious
a light new possibilities of contemporary fine art.
Wassily Kandinsky's abstract sensorial magnificence
and invention richness has always been Antonio Pessoa's
strongest reference and influence concerning linear
abstract art lyricism ever. Paintings such as Improvisation
31 ( Sea Battle) from 1913, Black Spot, Yellow-Red-Blue,
oil on canvas from 1925, shown at the Musée National
D'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Painting with
White Border now belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Founding Collection, among many others masterpieces
by the russian painter, had a great impact on Pessoa's
early abstract first experiences helping him realize
that supreme art expression doesn't necessarily need
to be represented by figurative human or specific object
sources in order to establish a profound perspective
on communication and meaning in the pursuit of the ability
to reach the viewer's deep understanding of the artist's
linguistic. Therefore it seems only natural that it
doesn't take too long before Antonio Pessoa fully accepts
and consequently adopts Wassily Kandinsky as the undeniable
abstractionism pioneer of modern art and his most reliable
model of non- objective compositions of the twentieth
century's global art scene. Pessoa in his determined
desire to convey emotional or expressive feelings and
ideas without reliance upon or reference to reconizable
objective forms already existing in reality, goes on
throughout the years maintaining this unbreakable faithful
connection with other abstract modern masters such as
Richard Anuszkiewicz-one of the founders and foremost
exponents of Op Art-Joan Miró's optical changes,
motion configurations and high-intensive colors, the
portuguese Paris-based Vieira da Silva, Peters Graham
and at last but not the least, of course, Jackson Pollock.
Although theoretically Antonio Pessoa's Romantic Period
was over and out for good in the year 2002, during the
next two years, 2003 - 2004, already settled in Barcelona,
according to accurate facts the artist keeps on reporting
the same aesthetic content both in his artworks on canvas
and watercolors. Basically only in the year 2005 he
definitely breaks up with the old traditional fine art
standardized patterns, something now regarded as a perceptual
last conclusion of his past studio performance and the
stand by period of reflection, a calm lengthy intent
consideration time where propagating beams and rays
of a new wave of art vision began to surpass and out
do the old art expression concepts, thereby making way
for an amazing new line of progressive contemporary
fine art excelling in colors, motion, visual impact
and communication. Therefore, throughout this aesthetics
concept switch process, Antonio Pessoa's favorites proceeds
in a circle of pure abstract artists, both the great
modern masters pioneers and the latest contemporary
avant-garde. The meaningful whole according to Pessoa's
new perspective of what art vision today must be leads
him to a determinant continuous judgment and evaluation
concerning a widescreen of the on-going variety of creative
talents, living entity parallels within his now prototyping
selection suggesting the future of contemporary fine
art. Antonio Pessoa and his closest collaborators and
assistants approach art galleries with growing curiosity
learning on a daily basis with genuine transparency
the outs and abouts of current abstract art patterns
totally disconnecting from the old figurative symbols
and entirely integrated within the colorful screen which
embody the latest parameters of contemporary visual
arts. One of these graphic significant examples is Galerie
Beeldkracht represented artist Koos Smit colorful wilderness
fine art excursions, a perfect inspiration for Pessoa's
general perception of his artworks new line. Koos Smit
comes up as an excellent source providing multiple ideas
and possibilities, a well placed bookmark in his favorites
directory. Also represented by Galerie Beeldkracht,
Vania Pentcheva's dynamics and shapes in our environment
oriented artworks, grabbed Antonio Pessoa's attention
at first sight, raising his excitement level to the
point of considering immediately Vania Pentcheva's artworks
as a contemporary fine art first rate nominee and a
good magic fuel for him and for all the nowadays worldwide
art scene young talents. Pierre Fontanals gives me a
ring before Christmas on behalf of Antonio Pessoa asking
me to take a look at the Alphan Gallery home page and
check these artists out. Chris Burnside and Jennifer
Burbank. From his words I immediately knew Pessoa had
discovered another artist of his fancies. Next day I
entered Alphan Gallery's website and there he was, Chris
Burnside amazing juxtapositions taking little flights
in a unique pleasant dreamy way. I understood right
away why Antonio Pessoa was so enthusiastic about this
one. The short but quality collections of Alphan Gallery
also presenting Jennifer Burbank, were widely obvious
to indeed had become part of Pessoa's preferences and
I should be safe in saying particularly Chris Burnside
had that kind of magic in his artistic speech Antonio
Pessoa simply adores, for his current art concept had
long become for me as clear as a cloudless sky. Pessoa
after dipping his toe in the colorful pool of contemporary
abstract fine art actually adopted a pleasing way of
making solid sure there is no way back. Antonio Pessoa's
paradigmatic view of a new reality, much more than a
purely theoretical level of a New Era of contemporary
art expression, forces us to admit a prevailing new
ideology of artistic and emotional answers, a meaningful
consensual dialog between science and creativity. This
means that he has developed a live vision of a new world
of effortless communication through fine art, now beyond
the limitations of figurative art by entering a totally
empirical interpretation of reality through abstract
constructivism splitting his fantasy between an impressive
collection of references, preferences and multiple influences.
ART METAPHORS shows us a perfect interior world where
the importance of art as a powerful communication tool,
provides infinite possibilities by establishing an intimate
relationship between the artist and the worldwide public.
Moreover, Antonio Pessoa's art of traveling across many
of the emerging contemporary artists concepts illustrates
an image of a remarkable interaction, a genuine interest
in what's goin on, a sharing good natured open-minded
commitment to other artists talent and work!
