Issue No.22 - International Edition Polo De’Marco Magazine - International Edition | Page 83
C
onceptual
Realism.
Cartoon-
tainted abstract surrealism. Low
Brow. There are quite a few terms
to describe the subversive art
form that arose from the 1970s
underground comic book world, but there is no
one like Tiago Azevedo, one of its most practiced
and passionate disciples. The artist, based
in Germany but raised in Portugal, uses pop
culture, fantasy, fables, religion and even works
by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian
Andersen to influence his artwork, which blends
classical techniques from the Baroque and Pre-
Raphaelite with contemporary concepts, like
his unmistakable signature: wildly manipulated
eyes, whose dimensions he alters because “it’s
the perfect way to directly transfer to the canvas
the emotions I want to convey.”
The end result are creations like his most recent
“Historical Figures” collection, a seven-piece
series that depicts re-imagined figures like
Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Joan of Arc, Marie
Antoinette, Napoleon, Louis XIV and Queen
Elizabeth immersed in a surrealist milieu.
“It started with the desire of coating figures
that inspired me with layers of fantasy and
mystique,” he says. “These figures touched me
either for their life journey or their legendary
beauty.” Though blessed with a wild imagination,
Tiago found painting actual people liberating. “I
do not have to think about how the character
will be,” he says. “The image just comes to me
in my mind, all I have to do is to gather a series
of techniques to translate it to the canvas.” For
the charismatic queen of Egypt, he strove to
depict “her mesmerizing gaze that seduced
two of the most powerful rulers of the Roman
Empire” while for the French resistance heroine,
he wanted to show “her sensuality despite of her
aggressive and masculine charm.” His favorite
character, Napoleon, challenged him to capture
“his austere figure while also imaging the
splendour of his era.”
His preferred method is oil painting “because
it allows me to work with multiple layers
and achieve the transparency effect I desire,”
the artist says. “It also provides contrast and
vibrancy of colors that would be difficult to
achieve with any other technique. Oil also dries
a lot slower, so this gives me time to work on
details.”
“Painting is a way to say everything I want,
everything that fascinates and inspires me in
one single image,” continues the artist. “I have
an idea of a particular subject, then comes a
blurred image on my mind that I convert into
a quick sketch to capture how I want it to be,
this is the most creative part, then when it is
time to paint, that turns out to be a sequence of
technical steps that end in a finished canvas. It
is a laborious process with a lot of attention to
detail, expression and texture.”
“Historical Figures” is Azevedo’s third major
collection, and his only based on real life figures.
“I paint mostly portraits of imaginary characters
that touch me the most. I have always been
passionate about fables,” says Tiago who was
born in Portugal on Terceira Island. The lush
landscape of the terrain – part of Azores
archipelago -- triggered his early imagination
and trained his budding eye to the fantastic. “I
love the imaginary, the mystique and fantasy
inherent to them.”
remembers. He enrolled in Lusíada University in
Portugal, and upon graduation worked on several
major projects, including Bayerischer Hof Hotel
in Munich. “Architecture was undoubtedly
an impulse to paint,” he says, adding it was in
Germany the seeds of his childhood fascination
with fantasy began to take hold. “It was there I
became more and more in love with the original
version of fairytales, which although a little
darker, contain much more juice and matter to
work with. The Baroque and the Middle Ages
also fascinate me because of the strong contrast
and dramatic effecta.” Though he enjoyed the
artistic element of his new profession, the
experience steered him back to his true love. “I
discovered that painting was something that
was my nature,” he says. “Painting gradually
took over my life and I decided to make it a
productive profession. I am sure I made the right
decision because now feel complete for doing
something that is my true passion.”
So consumed with painting, he has taken to
teaching his technique and the form online.
His YouTube channel -- youtube.com/user/
tgoazevedo -- gives viewers lessons in painting
history, art and tutorials.
It is a great satisfaction to see such a large
number of people understanding the concept
behind what I create, it makes me feel like my
mission of stimulating emotions within people
has been fulfilled,” the artist says.
The artist’s previous collections -- “Fairytales”
and “Religion” – were critical hits in the pop
surrealist art community, leading to exhibitions
at both the Louvre and Vatican. “My audience
tends to be very diversified,” Tiago says. “It
consists mainly of people who love the fantastic,
but as almost all my paintings are portraits,
sometimes people simply fall in love with the
way the painted figure looks at them, as if they
were talking to them, and curiously these are the
people who often purchase my originals simply
because they fell in love with the subject.”
The “low brow” technique has appealed to him
since he was a child -- “I spent most of my time
painting figures related to fantasy,” he explains
– but he put his art career on hold to pursue a
more stable profession: architecture. “I felt the
social pressure that art was not a profession,” he