THE UNIVERSE OF LUIS GERALDES

Luís Geraldes, born in Portugal, raised in Angola, and currently living in Australia, is what people like to call an artist of the world. Absent for seven years from Portuguese art galleries, Luís Geraldes recently presented his work at the Galeria de São Francisco under the title “Metaphysical Landscapes of the Small Australian Desert – Wimmera.”

A metaphysical artist in both the plastic and philosophical sense of the term, his work belongs to the field of spiritualist conceptions of the human being as part of a universe composed of the four elements essential to life: Earth – Air – Water – Fire.

Working with esoteric and mystical symbols, Geraldes also incorporates into his painting certain scientific emblems, such as the nuclear symbol, considering them a positive representation of the creative energy of the universe. As part of this vast experiential realm, the human being is found subjected to the dominant force of Earth and the nourishment that comes from Air.

Each composition is therefore divided between Earth and Sky, enveloped by the blues of water and the bright colors of fire illuminating the horizon: the limit of the human being. This space, worked by the artist through the fluid, methodical movement of the brush — sometimes applied directly with the paint tube onto the canvas, or, in works on paper, staining the surface with watercolor-like washes — is built up with quick touches of tones belonging to an atmosphere that explores the essential dimensions of the cosmos.

In this respect, the Australian landscape, full of electric/fluorescent energy, wrapped in colors that strike the ground or that are immersed in the deep storms of the desert, revealed to the artist a new extension of his metaphysical painting. A certain figuration of the human being and abstract dotting found in Geraldes’ work are characteristic of the ancient Aboriginal culture that lives in intense spiritual connection with the land.

These paintings have the power to take us on a journey through “interior” lands — complex paths of light and color, archetypes of human experience. Added to this is a plastic and spiritual enrichment, so desired today, that releases surreal tonalities, often trivialized in “arid” horizons.